Arts Wrap: ‘Little Women,’ Leslie Jones and more
Lake City Playhouse
puts on ‘Little Women’
Upon its release in 1868, Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” was an instant success. Readers were enamored with the lives and loves of the March sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. A second, equally well-received volume followed in 1869.
Lake City Playhouse’s production of “Little Women” opens Friday and runs through Dec. 7.
“Little Women” follows the stories of Meg (Lorelai Provolt), Jo (Amanda Guinn), Beth (Mairead Kahler. Evelyn Long plays young Beth.) and Amy (Lydia Kirkbridge; Stella Jones plays young Amy), sisters who live with their mother, Marmee (Monica Thomas) in Massachusetts. Their father, Mr. March (Damon Wood), is serving as a chaplain for the Union Army in the Civil War.
On Christmas morning, Marmee asks the girls to give their breakfast to a lesser-off family, the Hummels. Once they return to their home, they see their kindness has been repaid by their neighbor Mr. Laurence (Vermont Trotter), who has sent over a dinner feast, and the two families become friends.
As the war goes on, Meg works as a tutor and Jo as an assistant to their great aunt (Heather Renz), a wealthy widow. Beth helps with the housework, and Amy attends school. As the audience learns more about the March sisters, they see them for the good and the bad – the beauty and vanity, the anger and shyness, the creativity and the materialism.
As the war continues, the sisters achieve big dreams, like Jo publishing a novel, while also dealing with low moments, like their father’s bout with pneumonia, for which their mother has to leave to nurse him back to health, and Beth’s scarlet fever.
There are also many instances of love, both returned and unrequited. As the story continues, and the sisters grow older, we witness the quartet face everything life throws their way head on.
The play also stars Gerry Buchan, Joann Latimer, Chance Turnbull, James Padilla, Emily Smith, Camdyn Hook, Brighton Cline, Scarlet Hunt, Charlotte Dunn, Chloe Latimer, Aislynn Preston and Rosamund Drake.
This production of “Little Women” was adapted by Thomas Hischak. The play is directed by Jessica Peterson and stage managed by Destanie Dunbar.
Tickets ($25.75/students, seniors and military; $30.75/adults) are available through lakecityplayhouse.org.
Four comedians to take stage for Native American
Comedy Jam
On Friday, comedians Donovan “Beef” Archambault, Kasey “Rezzalicious” Nicholson, Mylo Smith and James Junes will perform at Spokane Tribe Casino’s Native American Comedy Jam.
The quartet will share jokes and stories that blend Native heritage with the realities of modern life. In a post on Facebook, Smith wrote that the idea for the Native American Comedy Jam came near the end of 2020 and has grown into a tour that has taken Indigenous comedians to venues across the country, while still staying relatable.
“No awards, no social media hype, no corporate sponsors,” Smith wrote. “We are some Native guys from the same type of reservation home as you who have been putting in work without credit and recognition, the same as you. But we (are) hungry now and know that our day is coming! So if you’re the type of underdog that everyone overlooks, goes unappreciated but you got big dreams and the heart of a lion, you’re just our tribe!”
Smith notes this is the last Native American Comedy Jam event of the year, so catch Archambault, Nicholson, Smith and Junes while you can.
Tickets ($35-$42) for the 8 p.m. show are available through spokanetribecasino.com.
Local bands rock out as part
of Alianza fundraiser
Dance, shimmy and shake your way to nYne Bar and Bistro on Friday to rock out for a good cause. Local bands Betsy Rogue, Elaine’s Gun and Silver Treason, plus Coil Studio aerialists, will perform as part of a fundraiser for Alianza, a Nuestras Raíces program.
Alianza offers workshops, in English and Spanish, on understanding gender and sexuality. These workshops are geared towards parents and family members of people who identify as LGBTQ+.
Alianza also hosts a book club that focuses on Latine and LGBTQ+ stories and characters, as well as peer support for youth and adults.
As stated on the organization’s website, Nuestras Raíces works to promote and serve business growth, professional development, education opportunities, cultural preservation, community wellness and social justice for the Hispanic/Latine community in the Inland Northwest.
Tickets, including tacos, are $20 at the door for the 7 p.m. event at 232 W. Sprague Ave.
Leslie Jones to bring laughs
to the Bing
After five years as a cast member and writer on “Saturday Night Live,” Leslie Jones has become a household name. Since leaving the show in 2019, Jones has continued to be a staple of television and the silver screen, starring in “Coming 2 America,” “Good Burger 2” and “Our Flag Means Death” as well as hosting “Supermarket Sweep” and guest hosting “The Daily Show.”
But before “SNL,” before her Emmy and Writers Guild of America Award nominations, before everything, she was a standup comedian hitting stages around the country. Returning to her comedy roots, Jones stops by the Bing Crosby Theater on Saturday.
Jones is touring after the release of her latest standup special, “Leslie Jones: Life Part 2,” which premiered on Peacock last month. In the special, Jones discusses her off-camera life, especially her dating life.
“I’m tired of dating,” she says in the special. “You need to put all the apps on one app and call it ‘What’s Left.’ ‘Looking for the man of your dreams? Here’s what’s left.’ ”
It is Jones at her most honest, most unfiltered, and, perhaps, at her loudest – everything her fans have come to expect and love from her standup.
Tickets ($62-$94) for the 8 p.m. show at the Bing Crosby Theater are available through bingcrosbytheater.com.