Over a year in the making, the Chemainus Theatre Festival is so pleased to be able to present Little Women: A Holiday Musical, to our patrons. Jim and Mark began the process of adapting this piece by first working from the original text by Louisa May Alcott. The script and the music required hours of historical research, ensuring that the scenes and songs reflected the social, political and geographical themes within the novel. Our adaptation has gone through three readings, over nine drafts, with hundreds of pages of music and ideas. They have distilled the original 1869 novel into two hours of delightful entertainment, filled with enchanting melodies and enduring characters that many have come to love and cherish. Enjoy!

Mark DuMez
Playwright/ Co-Lyricist
In his last play, Pet the Fish, Mark used puppets and myth to explore the worlds of forgotten dreams. Adaptations for stage the CTF stage include Snow White, Pinocchio and Animal Tales. For his new work, Finding Center, Mark received three John F. Kennedy Center ACTF awards. Mark has participated in new play development with Theatre One, Pacific Theatre, Acacia Theatre and CTF. He has performed in new works including Island of the Blue Dolphins (First Stage) and John Gabriel Borkman (Theatre X). Thanks to Ian, Jeremy, and Jim and the creative team for their support. For Erin.

Jim Hodgkinson
Composer/ Co-Lyricist
Jim would like to thank Jeremy Tow for the delightful opportunity to create this show.

A composition student of Violet Archer, Jean Coulthard and Manus Sasonkin, Jim's music has been performed at the Aspen Music Festival and in broadcast on CBC Radio and NPR. Most recently, Jim contributed music to the award-winning NFB feature documentary "Scared Sacred."

Jim's major teachers include Alexandra Munn (at the University of Alberta,) John Ogden, Lillian Freundlich of the Peabody Conservatory, and Armen Donelian of the New School, NYC. Jim also studied privately with the influential American music critic Samuel Lipman.

Managed exclusively by New York's IMG Artists and supported by the Canada Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, Jim toured internationally with the jazz duo Pendulum. Their concerts included a New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall and guest artist appearances with the Tucson and Delaware Symphonies. As an accompanist Jim has performed with Vera Lynn, Bob Hope, Red Skelton and John Denver and in the Broadway National Tour of Saturday Night Fever. As a soloist, Jim performed at the official opening of Canada's Embassy to the United States.

Many thanks to Mark DuMez - such a gifted co-writer - and to Seana-Lee Wood - Marmee and Muse!