SMHS Students Are Excited About Semi-Original Production That Combines ‘Through the Looking Glass’ and ‘Alice In Wonderland’
Having too much time on your hands isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, if you ask San Marino High School Drama Director Blake Williams, the result can be downright sensational.
“Due to a change in our schedule, we had 10 weeks to work on this instead of the usual four.”
“This” is ‘Alice,’ “an original retelling of a classic tale that combines ‘Through the Looking Glass,’ ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and whatever came onto the minds of a dozen or so students who actually assisted in the writing of the play, which comes to the Webb Theatre stage for four shows on Oct. 13, 14 & 15.
“We took a look at those two plays and decided we would take a crack at it ourselves,” said Williams. “I thought, ‘Why don’t we just teach the kids how to write?’ So we did.”
Williams introduced the project into her advanced drama class, where all 21 students participated in the re-write.
Audience members will have the opportunity to judge the result for themselves, but one byproduct of the extra time and effort has already manifested itself throughout the facility.
Whereas Williams often spent a great deal of her own time making costumes, this year, the students are pitching in. Same goes for the stagehands.
“The tech crew is making a caterpillar, the Mad Hatter’s table, flowers that talk and some very elaborate props. “It’s a whole world transformation. We figured go big or go home. People know this story from the movies so there will be a lot of expectations. We have something very different in mind.”
Another level on which ‘Alice’ may differ is the typical dramatis personae list has been blown out of the water.
“The nice thing about writing it ourselves is we were able to even out the roles and spread out the lines among the entire cast,” said Williams. “I don’t like to go to a play and there are only five people who talk. That won’t happen here. The kids are really engaged.”
‘Alice – an original retelling of a classic tale’ will be performed on the Webb Theatre stage at San Marino High School on Thurs., Oct. 13, Fri., Oct. 14 and Sat., Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. A special matinee performance will take place on Sat., Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $7 each, $5 for students.
