The Little Theatre of Walla Walla (LTWW) presents “A Hotel on Marvin Gardens” from April 3-19. Written by Whitman alum Nagle Jackson and directed by Gene Dahl and Jeff Schlicher, the play follows a game of Monopoly. Featuring art from the playwright’s sister and performed in Walla Walla, the play held deep familial connections for Jackson—both on stage and in tech.
Jackson was born in Seattle in 1936 and graduated from Whitman College in 1958 with a double major in English and French before studying mime in Paris. He passed away in July 2024, followed by his older sister, Jeanette Jackson Murphy, whose artwork and paintings are integrated into the Little Theater’s set.
The play uses a game of Monopoly as an analogy for corporate greed and class disparities. Set on April Fools’ Day, the play follows a stubborn magazine editor, KC (Amanda Wuest), and her publisher and lover, Bo (Topher Murphy), as they host an annual Monopoly game in their island home.
The couple invites editor Henry (Greg Willmarth), who brings food critic Erna Tinker (Mariah Newhouse). The first act follows their game, which both Erna and KC claim to always win and to always place a hotel on Marvin Gardens. As the night gets darker and a storm emerges, a young, ragged girl bursts into the home. KC and Bo help her dry; she tells them her name, Rose (Nicolette Thompson), and the story of how she came to the island.
Amanda Wuest shares her approach to playing KC.
“I really like the gradual breakdown of KC’s character. She seems almost reasonable at first. She’s a little weird from the start, but she’s not totally unhinged, so I like finding the turning points and keeping the character consistent, while also falling off that cliff of reasonable behavior is fun,” Wuest said.
While the characters play Monopoly, the actors recite exactly what is supposed to happen in the staged game. Wuest learned the entire board as her character eagerly calls out what property each character’s token will land on after rolling the dice and before they count out their moves.
“KC knowing what number of moves meant to have rolled and where they’re meant to have landed. It’s completely meaningless information that you have to know by role. I don’t even play Monopoly! I don’t know what’s on this board!” Wuest said.
In contrast, Nicolette Thompson, who played Rose, clashes with Wuest’s onstage character.
“My character is so vastly different from the other characters because at first, it seems like, oh, it’s just a bunch of rich people getting together, and my character shows the very stark difference and the wealth disparity,” Thompson said.
Greg Willmarth agreed that the contrasts and similarities between characters play a big role in the movement of the story.
“My favorite part is the relationships: the scenes I have with Nicolette and the one with Topher. When it’s just the two of us, and you can actually build that relationship, that’s to me, the most important thing.”
Director Gene Dahl, who is related to Nagle Jackson and his sister through marriage, noticed many connections and similarities between the play and the playwright’s own experiences.
“He used a lot of his personal experiences whenever he was writing. As a family member, there were a lot of little things that we recognized,” Dahl said. “[Jeannette] died last December and all of a sudden, [the play] became a celebration of life […] and celebrating their history because Paul and Gertrude Jackson, their parents, were two of the original founders of The Little Theater of Walla Walla; so it’s all coming full circle.”
Jackson Murphy’s artwork is featured in the room underneath the theater as well as the play’s set design. In addition to founding the theater, their family remains deeply intertwined with the group through their involvement in local productions.
Topher Murphy, who played Bo, and Danielle Murphy McMahon, who worked backstage as a props assistant, are Jackson’s nephew and niece.
The story takes place over a single evening, when the cast all play one game of Monopoly. Of course, interrupted by classic familial gathering customs including meals, jokes, discussions and short breaks for various reasons. Director Dahl described Jackson’s inspiration for the story.
“This was back in 2000 when he wrote it, and […] he was seeing that [greed] in society, not as bad as it is now, but it was starting up. So, he was trying to give a little bit of fair warning,” Dahl said. “The major themes are corporate greed and the pursuit of power and more money versus the little guy who gets brushed aside until the very end.”
Through the analogy, Jackson warns audiences of greed and suggests the triviality of excessive “stuff.” As actors present these themes through a day-long game of Monopoly, they slowly turn against one another. Unlike the plot itself, however, actors at the Little Theater of Walla Walla celebrated one another and Jackson’s local legacy in their production of “A Hotel on Marvin Gardens.”
