Cypress Theater kicked off its new 2024-2025 season with the classic play Little Women on November 7th and 8th. The play follows Jo as she navigates the 1800’s as a woman. 

The play was double cast starring aeytin Gibson (Cast Hearth) and Collette Terrebonne (Cast Haven) as Jo March, Naomi Allen (Cast Hearth) and Ella Bellew (Cast Haven) as Meg March, Megan Hu (Cast Hearth) and Natalie Uy (Cast Haven) as Beth March, and Aliyah Loera (Cast Hearth) and Maggie Fraser (Cast Haven) as Amy March. Additional characters include Marmee (Julie Dubois, Giada McGuire), Hannah (Hannah Arnce, Charlee Del Bello), Aunt March (Tyler Hernandez, Rachel Bramlett), Old Mr. Laurence (Jakob Sucatre, Dorian Carrillo Ferrer), Laurie (Cheerio Chauraisa, Devan Forester), Brooke (AK Pandya, Finn Cooper), and Father (Yoshi Vazquez, Addison Archer).

Opening night featured cast Hearth and closing night starred cast Haven. Both put on emotional performances that kept the audience laughing and in some instances, in tears for the characters. The biggest heartbreak overall being Beth’s death scene in Act Two. John Mendoza, the director, stated that his favorite scene was, “Beth’s death scene because we put a lot of work into it. And I’m kind of happy that we were able to convey such emotion in such a small amount of pages.” The emotion and effort shone through on the stage, leaving the audience in tears. 

Not all of it was sad, however, as the actors for Laurie and Brooke added some humorous elements, using the stage to put on a comedic show. They delivered greatly timed lines and impeccably used their body language and the area around them to add to the humor of the scenes. 

With such amazing performances, it’s no shock that the second night was sold out. Both opening and closing nights were full of life and laughter; the backstage area mirrored the energy.