The first film biography of an American icon is now
in pre-production at Nancy Porter Productions
arriet Reisen's interest in the Alcotts developed when she moved to New England to work at public television station WGBH-TV. There she researched and wrote several New England history programs, including the Emmy Award® nominated New England Begins, with Sam Waterston. It was at WGBH that Reisen first worked with fellow staffer Nancy Porter.
During that time, Reisen attended To Heaven In A Swing, a one-woman play about Louisa Alcott, written and performed by Katharine Houghton. (Houghton is the niece of Katharine Hepburn, who portrayed Jo March so memorably on film.) The play explored the close relationship of Louisa and her father, Bronson Alcott, focusing on their final days in March of 1888. Reisen learned that "potboilers", described as Jo March's writing in Little Women, had come to light as actual stories from the fervid imagination of Bronson Alcott's "dutiful" daughter Louisa.
ascinated by Alcott, especially by the new story angle of the long-lost thrillers published not long before, Reisen took the idea of creating a television biography of the author to Nancy Porter. Together Porter and Reisen began to research Louisa May Alcott, collecting materials, discussing formats, and looking for opportunities for funding.
Encouraged by the intensity and growth of the Alcott revival, Porter and Reisen set to work on the film biography. They obtained access to Alcott holdings at Houghton Library at Harvard, Concord Free Public Library, Fruitlands, and Orchard House. They consulted scholars in the areas of Transcendentalism, 19th-century literature, publishing, and women's studies, and formed an advisory board.
Financial support to Reisen and Porter's documentary biography project began with a series of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, culminating in a major production award. The endorsement of the Massachusetts Endowment for the Humanities, and support from the National Endowment for the Arts and PBS also helped to make The Louisa May Alcott Project a reality.
...Because of so many of [Alcott's] best books and stories are autobiographical, a film of her life would complement these works... The team you've put together contains all the best Alcott scholars working today... especially Madeleine Stern, the dean of us all."
- Joel Myerson
...Viewers will finally understand Louisa May Alcott's place in American culture. The project is both brilliant and timely."
- Sarah Elbert
...Once seen only as "The Children's Friend," Louisa May Alcott has entered the American literary canon. Nancy Porter Productions will weave together a fascinating look at a true American original."
- Daniel Shealy
...In our opinion you have prepared a most impressive presentation. It is thorough and well grounded, but at the same time it is imaginative and original. Our hearty wishes for success in your undertaking."
- Madeleine B. Stern
