Holmes Center for the Arts stages first musical since 2019 with Little Women

Holmes Center for the Arts is bringing musical theater back to Holmes County with Little Women, its first musical since 2019 and a production built around a local cast of 20 performers at Ohio Star Theater in Sugarcreek.

The show is scheduled for July 9 at 6:30 p.m., July 10 at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and July 11 at 2 p.m. Tickets are listed at $24 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under, a price point that keeps the production within reach for families, seniors and longtime theatergoers who want a polished show without leaving the county.

That accessibility matters in a place where arts programming has had to grow alongside a community more often associated with roads, weather and commerce than stage lights. Holmes County arts project materials say there was little access to the arts before Holmes Center for the Arts was founded in 2015, and the center’s own materials frame Little Women as part of a push to make theater a year-round part of local life rather than a one-off event.

The production also carries the weight of a longer pause. Holmes Center for the Arts previously planned Little Women for July 2021 at Ohio Star Theater, with the goal of strengthening theater as a regular offering. Instead, this staging marks the organization’s return to musical theater after the post-2019 gap, a sign that the county’s arts recovery is moving from survival mode toward consistency.

Jaime White is directing the music. A former music teacher and an award-winning choir director at state competitions, White has led multiple productions for the center, including Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Honk!, Annie Clue, Little Women, Music for Beauty and the Beast, Music Man and The Death of Jacob Marley. Her background gives the production a familiar local anchor at a time when steady leadership matters as much as artistic ambition.

Holmes Center for the Arts says it provides educational and performing opportunities in dance, music, visual arts and theatre, and its numbers suggest the reach is widening. The center lists 3,988 theatre tickets sold, more than 633 students served, 42 classes per week and 21 live performances on stage. It also opened Center Stage Theater in January 2025, adding another sign that the arts infrastructure in Holmes County is expanding.

At Ohio Star Theater, a family-friendly venue on the Dutch Valley campus known for Broadway-style musicals, comedy acts and concerts, Little Women becomes more than a title from the canon. It is a test of local demand, a showcase for homegrown performers and a reminder that Holmes County’s cultural recovery now has an audience willing to fill the seats.