Confessions of a Prairie B*tch at Sierra Madre Playhouse

The award-winning Sierra Madre Playhouse, a dynamic and intimate Southern California cultural hub, launches its 2024 programming and the venue’s year-long centenary celebration with Alison Arngrim’s global sensation Confessions of a Prairie B*tch, a riotous one-woman show recounting her role as the bratty pre-teen Nellie Oleson from the hit television show “Little House on the Prairie,” with six performances January 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28, 2024.

TV fans around the world remember Arngrim as Nellie Oleson, the acid-tongued hellcat – declared “TV history’s #1 one bitch” by Vanity Fair – who tormented pure, sweet Laura Ingalls for seven years on “Little House on the Prairie.” In Confessions of a Prairie B*tch, Arngrim offers a riotous evening of anecdotes, stand-up comedy, and multimedia content about life as the scorned yet beloved devious pre-teen, complete with frilly petticoats and curls. The one-woman stage show made its debut in New York City in 2002 and has since become a global sensation, drawing packed houses in the U.S. and abroad. It is based on Arngrim’s comic memoir, similarly titled Confessions of a Prairie B*tch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated (Harper Collins), which spent months on the New York Times Best Seller’s List.  

Arngrim continues to amuse audiences through her numerous film and television appearances (Make the Yuletide Gay, Livin’ the Dream, For the Love of May) and stage work (The Vagina Monologs, Dear Brutus, Joni and Gina’s Wedding). As a stand-up comedian, she has headlined at the Laugh Factory, the Comedy Store and the Improv in Los Angeles and comedy venues across the United States and Canada. Although Arngrim has gone on to successes in many arenas, Nellie has remained a centerpiece of her public acclaim.

Offstage, Arngrim has been a dedicated and compassionate AIDS activist for nearly three decades, volunteering for AIDS Project Los Angeles and Tuesday's Child, an organization assisting children and families affected by HIV and AIDS. In addition, Arngrim currently serves as California Chair, National Spokesperson and Founding Board Member on the National Advisory Board of The National Association to Protect Children, or PROTECT.org, fighting to give children a legal and political voice in the war against child abuse.

In 2024, the Sierra Madre Playhouse, a designated historic landmark, commemorates the milestone 100th anniversary of its evolution from a silent movie house that opened in 1924 to a leading performing arts venue with an array of diverse programming that reflects the Playhouse’s unique trajectory and the community it serves.

Tickets to Confessions of a Prairie B*tch ($12 - $45) are on sale now, as are single tickets and subscriptions to all performances in Sierra Madre Playhouse’s Spring 2024 Season. For tickets and information, please call 626.355.4318 or visit www.sierramadreplayhouse.org. Sierra Madre Playhouse is located at 87 West Sierra Madre Boulevard, Sierra Madre, CA 91024.