Tacoma Community College revives musical theater with “Little Women”
Though it’s been 30 years since Tacoma Community College’s last musical theater production, its upcoming production of “Little Women” shows there’s a community eager to bring the art form back to center stage.
Facing financial constraints in the 1990s, the college was forced to pick between saving the music department or the theater department, said Amy Van Mechelen, a voice instructor and director of “Little Women.”
The theater department was put on the chopping block, and besides a couple of original plays put on by a staff member, there have been no official theater productions or classes since.
A few years ago, Van Mechelen started to notice a trend among her voice students.
“A lot of my students had the desire to perform, but just hadn’t had that community theater opportunity,” Van Mechelen said.
Without a formal theater program to work with, she was pointed in the direction of the college’s Board of Trustees, which gives out annual funding to out-of-the-box projects from employees.
In 2024, the board developed the Innovation Fund Program to invest in ideas geared toward enriching the campus experience. It has since invested in projects like a Native artist in residence who provides woodcarving instruction to the art department, as well as a new Faculty Teaching and Learning Center.
Luckily for Van Mechelen, the board green lit her idea for a dramatic performance, and provided $35,000 in funding.
Though it’s a one-time investment, projects that show sustained impact may be considered for future funding through the college’s regular budgeting process, TCC shared in a statement to The News Tribune.
Besides the funding provided by the Innovation Fund, the production is also supported by the local theater scene. Institutions such as Tacoma Arts Live, The University of Puget Sound, Tacoma Musical Playhouse and Centerstage Theater have all stepped up to lend costumes and set pieces to the production.
Though Van Mechelen chose “Little Women” partly for its amount of soprano and alto voice parts, she was also drawn to the timelessness of the March sisters’ story.
The 157-year-old story set in 19th century New England follows the lives of the four March sisters as they navigate coming of age during the American Civil War.
“There’s so many ways for people to connect to the story, whether it’s siblings or the independence and determination of Jo,” she said.
The show’s cast holds a range of experience levels, from those with years of training to theater newbies, all united by a thrill for the art form.
For instance, take Keilana Olson, a music major specializing in vocal performance who will play the role of Meg March on June 13.
She’s been involved in theater since high school, and when plans for a school musical emerged, she jumped at the chance to perform.
“I think that we are all highly capable individuals, and I’m hoping [audiences] see our hard work as much as we’ve been trying to work on it,” Olson said.
Then there’s Stephen Donaldson, a student who plans to major in civil engineering, who has no prior theater experience. After auditioning and getting the role of Professor Bhaer, he’s been familiarizing himself with theater jargon and growing more confident in his acting abilities.
“It’s very exciting and nerve-wracking as well,” Donaldson said. “Everything is coming together.”
Also cast in the musical is TCC staff member Jessa Forsythe-Crane, who plays the imposing matriarch Aunt March.
It’s been 25 years since Forsythe-Crane last performed in a theatrical production. Now that she’s dipped her toes into the art once more, it’s giving her the confidence to audition for another show at Tacoma Musical Playhouse.
“Everybody I talked to about this, if they haven’t heard about it, they get excited,” she said. “The TCC community, I think, has been hungry for it.”
You can catch the musical for free at the TCC Auditorium on June 12 and 13 at 7 p.m, as well as June 14 at 2 p.m.
