By Bryce Johnson
Theater company Island City Stage will perform The Little Foxes, a 1939 play written by Lillian Hellman, from Jan. 8 to Feb. 1, 2026 at its theater in Wilton Manors, FL.
Michael Leeds, artistic director of Island City Stage, is directing The Little Foxes.
“It’s got everything. It’s got humor and drama. It’s got a great plot twist, and it’s got themes of greed, apathy, passivity and revenge. It’s about a family’s drive for money and power and what they’ll do even to each other to get it,” Leeds said. “It really resonates with, I think, what’s going on in our country today.”
In The Little Foxes, Regina, being a woman in the 1900’s, is denied inheritance and wealth over her brothers, so she devises a scheme to get what she feels is owed to her.
“It’s so meaty and juicy. I’ve seen it a number of times and the audience always really responds, so I’m excited to have our audience see our production,” Leeds said.
Actress Mia Matthews will star as Regina in The Little Foxes. After years of hoping they could do the play, Matthews remembers when Leeds called and gave her the role of Regina.
“This has been on the bucket list for the two of us. So it’s really exciting that we’re getting the opportunity to do it,” Matthews said.
Matthews always knew that she wanted to play Regina in The Little Foxes. She resonated with Regina because of how complex her character was.
“Many people look at her as a bit of the villain of the story, and I actually have played a lot of what people consider villains, and there’s always a reason. There’s a lot more to it. There’s a reason why this woman is acting the way that she is. She was in a man’s world. She was not treated the same. When people refer to her, they think it’s about greed, but she really just wants what’s fair to her,” Matthews said.
A line from The Little Foxes, “There are people who eat the earth and eat all the people on it like in the Bible with the locusts. And other people who stand around and watch them eat,” encapsulates the feeling of the play for Leeds.
Leeds said The Little Foxes remains relevant even today, with people doing anything for power and money.
“We can get used to something that we shouldn’t get used to, and that’s one of the things that I’ve been dealing with in my own life. Well, what do I do? What does one individual do? One of the things I can do is to direct a play that I think speaks to that in a very entertaining way with a terrific cast,” Leeds said.
Tickets for the upcoming run of The Little Foxes range from $44 to $62. For more information, visit https://www.islandcitystage.org/season-13-1-1.
