August 2008
Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women will screen at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA on several dates starting on Wednesday, September 17th at 8 pm. Stay tuned to this page for more information and forthcoming updates to the web site.
December 2006
The project website is launched in its initial phase. Designed by New York firm The Complex, noted for its work on several PBS sites and led by company president Jonathan Tessler, the site will expand to include full-length interviews with scholars and streaming video from the film, book excerpts from the Henry Holt and Company biography, and a wide range of educational outreach materials for use in education, libraries, book groups, and the general public.
November 2006
Jennifer Pearce joins the project as Line Producer, and Anna Saraceno as Associate Producer. Boyd Estus comes on as Director of Photography.
October 2006
At its biannual meeting, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations votes an award to the project for production and educational outreach. The Simon Foundation and Audrey Simon also makes a generous gift. These two grants allow the project to begin production.
August 2006
Dr. Jonathan Howe, Director of The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations of Jacksonville, Florida, makes a site visit to Nancy Porter Productions in Lexington, Massachusetts, accompanied by his wife, Dr. Harriet Howe. After meeting to discuss production, educational outreach, and funding plans, Project Directors Reisen and Porter join the Drs. Howe on a private tour of Orchard House by Director Jan Turnquist.
July 2006
The CPB/PBS Program Challenge Fund supports the project with a generous award toward production of Louisa May Alcott: The Real Woman Who Wrote Little Women. Leading the agencies' joint selection process are John Prizer of The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Sandy Heberer of The Public Broadcasting System.
June 2006
Publisher Henry Holt and Company is chosen to publish the first biography of Louisa May Alcott in thirty years. The book will draw from twenty years of research by Project Director /Film Writer Harriet Reisen, the book's author. Henry Holt's Jennifer Barth is Editor; Jennifer Joel of ICM is agent for Reisen and Project Director/ Film Director Nancy Porter. A large printing and marketing campaign are planned for the book's publication, shortly before the date of the documentary's initial airing on American Masters.
May 2006
The Project welcomes WNET's American Masters as co-producer and presenter of its 90-minute Alcott biography. The distinguished PBS series in its 20th season under Susan Lacy, its award-winning originator and Executive Producer. New York station WNET's contribution to production costs brings the project 2/3 of the way to budget completion. Two grants by individuals support the development of the website and a book proposal.
