A lot happens between shows at the Little Theatre of Alexandria.
On a recent Saturday evening, a packed house at the LTA gave a standing ovation to the cast of “School of Rock.” Within hours of closing, the cast and crew were back at the theater at 600 Wolfe Street to help break down the set to make way for LTA’s next production, “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner,” which opened on Saturday, March 28.
It takes about 100 volunteers to put on a play and about 150 volunteers for musicals, according to Luana Bossolo, LTA’s governor for public relations. LTA is a nonprofit and has been operating from its Wolfe Street location since 1961.
“This includes production crew and cast and folks volunteering in the box office and ushering,” Bossolo told ALXnow. “We have only two staff. LTA runs truly runs on volunteers.”
LTA’s board of governors president Eleanore Tapscott, who plays Tilly the maid in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” noted the overlapping nature of productions.
“In order to get the number of shows in a season which is in excess of, I think, any other community theater, we have become a very professionally scheduled and executed production company,” Tapscott told ALXnow.
Jacquel Tomlin is a co-producer for “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner,” a famous show about a mixed-race couple in the 1960s wanting to get consent from their parents to get married. Last fall, Tomlin responded to LTA’s annual call for producers and assistant producers and was trained page-by-page from the theater company’s production manual.
“The first big headache is getting the set designer, because the set and how blocking goes for the director go hand-in-hand,” Tomlin told ALXnow. “Then you start getting the rest of the crew together, the different designers, the costumes, makeup, hair, sound, lighting, all of that crew to make a cohesive team.”
Alan Wray has been working with LTA for more than 20 years, and is another co-producer on “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” He said that LTA shows have no shortage of auditions.
“When the call goes out for auditions, we get flooded with people,” Wray said. “It’s all volunteer, but there’s always 80-to-100 people coming to audition. For this show there were 101 people who signed up to audition for nine roles.”
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” held auditions in January, was sidelined temporarily by a snowstorm and had to pivot to doing auditions via Zoom. The first table read with the cast was held at the end of the month, with opening night less than two months away. The set designer is Tom O’Reilly, who worked with dozens of carpenters, set painters and electricians to build a 1960s-era living room and patio.
“The 28th of February was the last show of ‘School of Rock,'” Tomlin said. “They, we broke down the set and started building this one. One show right on top of another.”
“School of Rock” proved to be a challenging production, with moving set pieces and a cast of 30 actors, including 19 kids. One of those child actors, 11-year-old Penelope Porter, even learned how to play the piano for the show and took private lessons with LTA’s music director.
“I really want to build from the skills that I learned in this show,” said Porter, who previously performed in LTA’s “A Christmas Carol” in December. “I banged around on pianos before, but I never actually played something until now.”
Director Kristina Friedgen told ALXnow that the “School of Rock” sets started to get built after the closing of “A Christmas Carol” in December. Auditions were held in January, and rehearsals were held next door in LTA’s academy.
“Rehearsals were a little like controlled chaos,” Friedgen said. “We were actually lucky because we got a couple of additional rehearsals on the stage with the set, because the theater is in an extra dark time after ‘A Christmas Carol.'”
The players won’t have much time to rest after closing night of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” on Saturday, April 18. The next day, the cast and crew will go back to LTA to break down the set for the next show, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” which opens on Saturday, May 16.
Little Theatre of Alexandria’s 2026-27 season
LTA recently announced its 2026-27 season, with the production “Still We Rise: A Broadway Cabaret to Celebrate America’s 250th” opening on June 12 and running until June 21.
“We’re thriving because people want to get out,” Tapscott said. “Especially with entertainment venues in DC being affected and people don’t have the outlets that they’re used to. So, they can come on down to LTA. We are happy to entertain them.”
LTA’s main season schedule is:
- Catch Me If You Can (July 18–Aug. 8, 2026) opens the main season. Based on the true story of con artist Frank Abagnale Jr., this Tony Award-nominated musical follows a young man who successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as an airline pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor — all before his 21st birthday. (Licensed by Music Theatre International. Directed by Jarod Glou)
- Blithe Spirit (Aug. 29–Sept. 19, 2026) follows. Noël Coward’s classic comedy centers on a novelist whose dinner party séance goes spectacularly wrong when the ghost of his first wife makes an uninvited and very disruptive appearance. (Licensed by Concord Theatrical/Samuel French. Directed by Ward Kay)
- A Classic Musical (Oct. 17–Nov. 7, 2026) A beloved romantic musical with sweet treats and mishaps. We’re keeping this one under wraps for now — but trust us, it’s worth the wait. Stay tuned for the big reveal later this summer. (Directed by Mitchell Aiello)
- A Christmas Carol (Dec. 5–19, 2026) LTA’s beloved holiday tradition returns! Journey to Victorian London at Christmastime, where three unforgettable ghosts visit the miserly Scrooge. A timeless story of redemption, generosity, and the magic of Christmas – perfect for the whole family. (Directed by Frank D. Shutts, II)
- Once on This Island (Feb. 6–27, 2027) is a Tony Award-winning musical set in the French Antilles, telling the story of a peasant girl whose love for a wealthy young man leads her on a journey guided by the island’s gods. (Licensed by Music Theatre International. Directed by Kadira Coley)
- The Pitmen Painters (April 3–25, 2027) is Lee Hall’s acclaimed true-life drama about a group of coal miners in 1930s northeast England who become unlikely artists under the guidance of a university art teacher. (Licensed by Broadway Licensing, LLC/Dramatists Play Service. Directed by Alden Michels.)
- Calendar Girls (May 22–June 12, 2027), Tim Firth’s comedy based on the true story of a group of Women’s Institute members from Yorkshire who posed for a charity calendar and sparked an international sensation. (Licensed by Concord Theatricals/Samuel French, Ltd. Directed by Chantale Plante)
