Beloved American author Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) will return to life in a special Living History presentation. Performance artist, author, and educator Valerie Weich will portray Alcott, whose novels Little Women and its sequels continue to win new generations of fans. As the famed author, Weich will speak on Alcott’s views about her fame, as well as discuss women’s inequality and the struggle for women’s rights, her experience as a Civil War nurse, her father’s progressive ideas on education and transcendental philosophy.

This program is presented by Pasadena Museum of History. Funding is generously provided by the Living History Centre Fund.

About the Performer
Valerie Weich made her debut as Louisa May Alcott for Pasadena Museum of History in April 2003, in an original, one-woman presentation, The Late Louisa May. She subsequently developed the performance into an educational outreach program (Literary Lives) and has since performed for more than 8,000 students in the Glendale, Pasadena, Burbank, Alhambra, and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. She has also made numerous appearances in a variety of venues for audiences of all ages.

Weich has also portrayed Pasadena arts patron Eva Scott Fényes (1849-1930) for PMH and is developing a one-woman presentation, Frankenstein’s Mother: An Evening with Mary Shelley. She curated her first art exhibition at the South Pasadena Public Library in October 2018, Frankenstein Meets Little Women: A Monster Mash that included eleven artists celebrating the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein and the 150th anniversary of Little Women.

A member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA), Weich was a Bram Stoker Award® nominee in the Short Non-Fiction category in 2020. Her article titled “Lord Byron’s Whipping Boy: Dr. John William Polidori and the 200th Anniversary of The Vampyre” was published in Famous Monsters of Filmland, No. 291 (October 2019). She was also a nominee for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award.

Free parking in the Shakespeare Club lot and on the street.