In less than a month, four modern young women will be transformed into Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March, the main characters in Louisa Mae Alcott's “Little Women,” the classic coming-of-age tale of four sisters growing up in Concord, Massachusetts during the mid-1800s. They will wear long dresses and speak formally, without any “likes” or “you knows” thrown into their sentences. They have a lot of work to do on their lines, and their lives are filled with a thousand other things, but each one is excited about the upcoming production.

Alcott, the author of many short stories and novels, wrote “Little Women” after a publisher promised her father publication if he could convince his daughter to write him a novel that would appeal to juvenile girls. Alcott agreed because she hated to disappoint her father, but she had trouble writing it, as, like Jo March, the heroine of the book, she was a tomboy who didn't know or understand many girls. She did, however, have three siblings, Anna (Meg), the oldest, and two younger sisters, Lizzie (Beth), and May (Amy). The resulting book became “Little Women.” Published in 1868, the book was successful enough to provide Alcott with financial independence for the rest of her life. It also signaled the beginning of a new genre featuring young, independent women. Alcott was bewildered by her success. In 1874, she wrote in her journal, “Life always was a puzzle to me, and gets more mysterious as I go on. I shall find it out by and by and see that it's all right, if I can only keep brave and patient to the end.” www.neh.gov/humanities/2009/novemberdecember/feature/little-woman.

Of the four students playing the March sisters, Ciara Pitcher (Meg), Sierra Murray (Jo), Natalia Gosselin (Amy), and Emery Lorrain (Beth), only Emery has read the book. None of them have seen movies associated with the story, so the tale is fresh to them. All have been acting for a long time, at least relative to their ages. Ciara is a freshman, Natalia a sophomore, Sierra a junior, and Emery is in the sixth grade at Boothbay Region Elementary School and she's been acting since she was 3. As Sierra, who heads up the drama club, puts it, “We are all theater vets.” She's excited about the production for another reason. “This will be the first show since the auditorium was renovated,” she said, gesturing to rows of new plush seats and a fresh paint job.

These girls, unrestricted by corsets or strict gender roles, both of which Alcott fought all her life, found random seats in the empty auditorium, and we discussed everything from High School Musical, a production Sierra said was embraced by the whole school last year, to how challenging it is to find rehearsal time with everyone's schedules. But one gets the feeling that by the time the show goes on, every line will be memorized, characters will be established, and they will have mastered the art of walking around in period costumes and speaking in stylized sentences. They also will grow to love the story of the March sisters, and in doing so, they will honor an author who was ahead of her time.

“Little Women,” directed by Mary Miller, will run on Friday, Nov. 18 and Saturday, Nov. 19 in the Boothbay Region High School auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students.