Lumina Studio went BIG with "Little Dorrit"

One such dress, worn by young actress Aziza Afzal, weighed over 20 pounds. Wendy Eck, Lumina's costume designer, assembled or sewed 110 character costumes in all.

Lumina's talented and tireless Director David Minton is someone who likes a challenge.  In 2007 he and his wife Jillian Raye (Lumina's founder) brought Dickens' "Nicholas Nickleby" to Round House, and that success inspired them to adapt "Little Dorrit" for the stage. Unfortunately, Jillian died in November of '08 after a prolonged battle with breast cancer, and was not able to see their vision take shape.  However, the show was dedicated to Jillian's memory, and her influence was evident in the beautiful stagecraft that made the BIG play (3+ hours per performance) such a feast for the senses.

"Little Dorrit" is one of Dickens' most autobiographical novels, based on his family's hard life in the Marshalsea Prison, where his father was sent for a debt of 40 pounds. Twelve-year-old Charles Dickens was sent to work in a factory to try and relieve the family crisis - something he was never to forget or forgive.  "Little Dorrit" is a biting social commentary which looks at the themes of imprisonment and freedom of all kinds: some characters are spiritually imprisoned, others emotionally imprisoned, and the debtors of Dickens' day - literally imprisoned.  The play resonates with audiences today because the subject matter is timeless:  Dickens' Mr. Merdle runs a Ponzi scheme that resembles Madoff's, both causing the financial ruin of so many.

Minton himself says about the production: "It was a massiveundertaking which is why this is only our second Dickens in the last five years. Adapting a novel so nuanced in it portrayals of a vast range of characters and so sprawling in its various locales challenges ouractors to exercise new acting "muscles" and our production team toinvent ingenious staging solutions. It is always a privilege to workwith material this good, and the process and final performances createa unique work of theatre art that everyone involved with the show hasfelt."

Lumina's backstage wizards (Julie Reiner, Jeff Struewing, Jim Porter, Suzanne Hubbard, Kris Thompson, Sheila Landahl, Ron Murphy, Eve Vawter, Linda Parker, Celeste Wiser, Elizabeth Gelfeld and Joan Susie) reached new levels of artistry in this show.  One particularly memorable bit of staging occurred when Lumina's youngest actors joined Minton onstage as bureaucrats from the "Circumlocution Office."  The actors gave stylized and humorous performances, playing a kind of musical chairs game to keep "the public" from penetrating the inner sanctum of their government office.  Minton's staging was reminiscent of Monty Python, and gave the audience much to howl about.

"Little Dorrit" achieved a long-cherished goal of Jillian Raye, to produce classical works with an intergenerational cast in Takoma Park/Silver Spring.  While the majority of roles were played by 8 to 15 years olds, the adult actors, Brian Monsell, John O'Connor, Ritchie Porter, Stewart Hickman, Caroline Alderson, Gretchen Schermerhorn, Andy Penn, Cassie Gabriel, and Minton himself (who played the aging William Dorrit) brought a wealth of acting experience to the play, and inspired Lumina's young actors to reach new heights as they interpreted Dicken's memorable characters.

About the only thing "little" about Little Dorrit were the two pre-school girls who took turns playing the role of Amy Dorrit when she was a tot.

Jessa Nather and Talia Silber were both charming and polished, threatening to steal the show had they made more than brief appearances.

All six performances of "Little Dorrit" were sold out by curtain time, and the audience included many young theatre-goers who were new to Dickens, or to live theatre period !  8-year old Reina Coulibaly said,"I liked the way the actors could concentrate without getting distracted by the people they knew in the audience." (her sister, Binta, was one of the actors).  She also had this thought about Dickens: "I think the author cared about big changes (to the British social class system) like when Little Dorrit became rich after coming out of the jail."  More experienced theatre-goers, like State Senator Jamie Raskin said, "The play was a powerful indictment of class inequality and the cruelty of poverty."

 At the final performance, Lumina bid goodbye to its long standing Stage Manager Nora McNally, a senior at Blair High School, who has contributed greatly to Lumina's productions in recent years - both on stage and backstage.