In Appreciation of a Well-Told Story
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Dear
Alice (Camille Tracy),
Thank you for sharing your story with us
the other day, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I know the others did as well. It was a
very well told story and spot on, as Lewis Carol’s friends might say. You met
and made some marvelous friends during your exploration of Wonderland, as well
as some unsettling acquaintances, though they were entertaining.
I
feel like it might help me express my appreciation if I organize my thoughts
along the lines of your adventures.
Adventure 1: Down the Rabbit Hole
Your
natural inquisitiveness and adventuresome spirit moved you to follow the White
Rabbit (
Milo Bustany) down the rabbit hole and into the land of wonder.
He turned out to be a pretty decent guide, as forgetful as he was, though I
suspect he used that as a device to draw you deeper into Wonderland and
eventually home. Clever bunny.
Did
you know your trip to and through Wonderland inspired a saying that is widely
used? I have employed the saying myself often as I’ve sorted through my mum’s
and dad’s stuff? People use it to describe when they follow a thread of thought
that takes them into strange and astonishing places. “Down the rabbit hole.”
I
particularly loved the way you interacted with everyone, even the mean Queen of
Hearts (Reina Fritz). Off with your head? Well now, I say! Even though
threatened with losing your noggin, you did not get angry with her, nor anyone
else in the story. Perhaps a little flummoxed but really, who wouldn’t in an
upside down world? Outstanding. At least she invited you to play croquet and
told you what needs to happen before you could return home.
Appropriately
enough, you were a bit nervous at the prospect of having your head chopped off,
and again appropriately to story, you reacted in wonderment of it all.
The
Queen of Hearts has quite a retinue following her about Wonderland and you had
the honor of meeting many of them just as you were adjusting to being in a new
place. The Queen didn’t seem to go anywhere without her Executioner (Eowyn Bradley) nearby she and appeared
to be kept quite busy.
When
you first met the Jack of Hearts (Beckett
Arthurs) he was carrying the Queen’s crown and following her around. I
suspected he was up to something though. You see Alice, the Jack of Hearts used
to be called the Knave of Hearts and my friend Webster tells me Knaves are
tricky, deceitful fellows. I thought this one would have an unhealthy taste for
tarts. He’s a wily sort and came across just so in your story telling quite
well.
Adventure
2: The Pool of Tears
In retrospect, it seems that you faced
death in most of the adventures you had in Wonderland. Your pool of tears was
no different. I mean no disrespect to the Mouse (
Karenna Saleh) but she seemed a bit dour with her recitation of the
long and sad tale. But I suppose we can cut her some slack since she, like
yourself, was swimming for her life in a pool of your tears. It seemed to me
that you began to figure out the cost of giving in to your emotions while in dire
situations like that.
Adventure
3: Caterpillar on a Mushroom
Your adventure with the Caterpillar (
Marilee Larned) on a Mushroom was
exotic, or ‘far out’ as we used to say back in my ‘good ole days’. She taught
you how to cope in Wonderland, no easy task that. Learning how to change size
by nibbling the mushroom and wishing when the time was right was key for you
learning to adapt as needed for your upcoming adventures. Really, you couldn’t
have gotten through the adventure without this nugget of advice, as none of us
can in our own unscripted exploits.
Adventure
4: The House of the Duchess
Visiting
the Duchess (Sienna Shaloub), a lady
of beauty and grace, was a nose-tingling and clamorous affair – all that pepper
flying about! And the poor baby crying only to get spanked. I sneeze often
enough without pepper, it would be tempting for me to wrap the Countess’ Cook (Maddie Weber) in cellophane. Her footman
(Diego Barolo Teodores), a frog no
less, had a surprising view on answering you at the door when he was already
outside. I think my eyes swam a bit as he explained it but you handled it
admirably.
Adventure
5: Cheshire Cat in the Forest
Ah the Forest, along with the beaches of
Santa Barbara (a Wonderland of its own) is a favorite place of mine to walk and
contemplate. Yours was a bit eerie – I suppose that was a factor of being in
Wonderland proper and fueled, no doubt, by your having fallen asleep at the
foot a fine specimen of treedom. It was here that you encountered the Cheshire
Cat (
Emma Dichard and Lachlan Martinez).
I imagine it was vexing and baffling all at once and made all the more so in
that spooky local – especially so with a creature that appeared and disappeared
at will, all and in part and in outlandish ways.
A
smile without a cat? I’ve never seen one either. Sage advice though, to walk
long enough to get somewhere. I like long walks so I imagine I’ll end up
somewhere sometime.
Adventure 6: The Mad Tea Party
Madness!
At a tea party? One has to wonder what the Wonderland brew contained for there
to be a mad tea party. The Mad Hatter (
Crash
Hawkins - ever such an apt actor’s name for this character) seemed to be in
and out of trouble in the Queen’s court though he turned out to be an able ally
in getting you home. I think I would enjoy a tea party with the Hatter and his
associates. It was fortunate you were in Wonderland in May and the March Hare (
Elise Tsoukalas) wasn’t quite so mad as
it was back in March. The Dormouse (
Maddie
Thomas) seemed a sleepy little thing but made for a nice cushion for the
Hatter and Hare.
They
rushed you off nicely enough to the croquet grounds with excellent directions allowing
you to make it in time to keep your head.
Adventure
7: The Royal Croquet Ground
The gardeners you came across in the
Queen’s garden were nervous wrecks. I couldn’t imagine how the 2 of Spades (
Henry Challen), 5 of Spades (
Maddie Weber), and 7 of Spades (
Kat Vochovska) would ever get the roses
red in time. Alas, they did not. Maybe this speaks ill of me, but I did get a
smile out of their predicament – another part of the story that was nicely
depicted.
The
Queen’s guards, the 8 of Clubs (Josiah Mitchell)
and 3 of Clubs (Haylie Preston-Mendoza),
were Keystone-Kop comedic. Since the Queen is alive and well, I have to assume
they’ve done their job well even if they elicited chuckles from me and my
fellow viewers.
You
made a solid ally in the person of the King of Hearts (Tristan Fleming) as he took your side when his wife wanted to have
you beheaded using your youth {seven and half exactly} as grounds for
forgiveness from the Queen. I think if we could look behind the scenes we would
see that he was able to save more than a few Wonderland residents from the
chopping block. The croquet grounds were nearly as mad as the tea party. In my
opinion, flamingos don’t make adequate mallets. And, the game seemed rigged for
the Queen of Hearts to win, such is the result of tyranny.
Adventure
8: Mock Turtle on a Stump
As a guide, the Gryphon (
Robby Pallad) seemed on good behavior
and got you over to see the Mock Turtle (
Hanna
Henderson), thank goodness; I’m sure you agree. Gryphons can be rather
fierce beasts, not to mention overbearing and dismissive as he was of the Mock
Turtle’s predicaments. But he rallied while he helped the Turtle tell his story.
I found while doing a little research that the Gryphon has an alias – The
Bandersnatch and has been described by incident reports as being able to extend
its neck and has fearsome jaws. Gives me the shivers to know you survived your
encounter so adroitly.
I
was elated to see you dance with the turtle and even happier to see her regain
her feet from her fall, something not all turtles manage. Truth be told, I
rather liked the Turtle.
Adventure 9: Who Stole the Tarts?
In
another venue the trial surrounding the theft of tarts would have been a
Kangaroo Court, it was a madhouse. Frightening and maddening for you and it
seemed all so unnecessary. After all, we knew who stole the tarts, the poem
told us. There were anxious moments here but thankfully you escaped. I think it
must have been a bit sad for you seeing the King take such a forceful part in
prosecuting the spurious charges against you after having been an ally.
Adventure
10: The Red Queen
Escaping
the Queen of Hearts and her minions was no easy task and took you to the edge,
even into Looking Glass Land. Try as you might, even with the Red Queen’s (Cosi Arthurs) help you weren’t able to
make any progress, running twice as fast as you ran might have done the trick
but who could have done that when you were already running as fast as you
could?
The
awesomeness of your story telling was evident as the Red Queen had you read a
poem about the Jabberwocky (Robbie
Pallad, Zach Jonson, Diego Bartolo Teodores, Ryan Ewart). Though a
fiercesome beast, it was nevertheless mystical and stunning in its portrayal
and as I said, a highlight of your story telling. Kudos to your Puppetry,
Design & Movement (Christina McCarthy)
person. Marvelous!
It
seemed difficult to quench your thirst in Looking Glass Land, dry biscuits
instead of water? It would never work for us. The great thing here was that you
received some instruction to move forward toward the Eighth Square, Queendom,
and home.
Adventure
11: Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Tweedle Dee (
Ryan Ewart) and Tweedle Dum (
Zach
Johnson) were as entertaining as we could have hoped, more so even. They
were a bit more svelte than I recollect from other readings, and quite
acrobatic dancers to boot. But there you go, imagination can sometimes be a
fickle thing. Twins to the core, these two put on a masterful performance of
the ancient poem, if one can consider 1725 as ancient times. Well done to the
both of them. They seemed quite popular with the crowd.
Adventure
12: The White Queen
The
White Queen (Will Roberts, outrageous
and has quite a future – one way or another) was so very different from the Red
Queen and yet, complimentary in the extreme. If I had their exchange on video I
would watch it frequently and make different notes each time. Rackingly
entertaining. It was good for you to learn all about working toward promotion
to Queen in order to return home. Key learnings come in all shapes and sizes.
Regarding
the White Queen’s habit of living from future to past – I’m not sure I could,
or would even want to live that way, with certain exceptions. For one thing,
the White Queen made it obvious we can’t avoid the pain of an episode by
knowing it in advance. For another, and this is the big one for me, I wouldn’t
know the excruciating joy of watching who my children and grandchildren become
as their lives unfold before my eyes. It has been a singular experience thus
far seeing them become more exceptional each day.
Adventure
13: Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty (
Olivia Miller) provides some sort of object lesson regarding walls
and the climbing and sitting thereupon. I may have benefitted by such a lesson
as a young boy myself, but too late, I learned it on my own but seem no worse
for the wear these decades later. In the end though Humpty gave you just enough
warning to evade the Queen of Hearts. It was a costly warning though that tumbled
poor Humpty Dumpty. All the King’s horses, all the King’s men…so sad.
Adventure 14: Alice’s Coronation
Fitting
for Looking Glass Land, your coronation was Wonderful. Nice speech you gave to
all the creatures, whatever they may be.
Post-Curtain
Considerations:
I
need to do the Futterwacken* in celebration of your storytelling, yours and
that of your compatriots, one and all. This brings me to an insight on
storytelling that I had while sitting in preparation for the first curtain to
rise.
I am convinced that the part
each member of the cast and crew plays is integral to the story being told.
Each person enhances the experience of the listener, viewer, or reader as the
case may be. If one thing were to be changed from the time the ticket is turned
in through to the final bow, it would be a different story. And each of us
consumes the story with our own imagination engaged, fully or otherwise.
The
San Marcos High School Theater ushers (Claye
Bouma, Ashton Johnsten, Jaxon Craig, Kai Binder, Josh Duncan, Kaiah Sandoval,
and Kaycee Leemhuis) greeted us with smiles as we entered and set a mood of
anticipation beautifully. The program the ushers laid on us were Designed (Nels Henderson) just right, and oh so
helpful to me writing this. I suppose this program would not have been as exact
and fun without an artistic Copy Illustrator (Will Roberts). The Front of House (Callie Hensman Ralls) was managed nicely, thank you.
Without
the crew and set construction people, the story would have been done in the
dark, we couldn’t have heard a thing, and poor Alice would have been sitting on
an empty stage.
The
Stage Manager (Lila Clarke) worked
her magic along with the Crew Chief (Evelyn
Van Bogelen) who had the Run Crew (Calvin
Bustany, Shane Johnson, Eden Miranda, Mia Hernandez, Diana Ybarra Bribiesca,
Roman Trovato, and Karina Castillo) perfectly synchronized. I never noticed
a dropped set piece or missed cue. Now these folks took the direction and
design from higher powers; Technical Direction & Set Design (Nolan McCarthy) and Lighting Design
& Set Design (Jonathan Mitchell).
The
sound for the production was flawless and a masterful operation of the
Soundboard Operators (Xanthe Bodnar and
Fia Torrey). I heard every line just right.
Let’s
face it, without Construction Assistance (Roman
Trovato and Evelyn Van Bogelen) the design would have been nothing but
imagination and they wouldn’t have been up to the task without Construction
Training (Ben Ewart).
The lighting for this production was
astounding and a thing of beauty. The Lightboard Operator (
Teya Cornelius) was spot on, pun intended. And her bio is what
inspired me to write this tale of storytelling and I deeply appreciate it. I
haven’t had the heart for writing as much as I would like and this has been
fun.
Your
Fly System Operator (Caden Semenza)?
Truly awesome. I don’t recall one sandbag falling on any actor or run crew
member. And yes, I had to research what a Fly System Operator is. I’d imagined
some maniac running around behind the scenes with a fly swatter.
Every
prop was in proper position and condition thanks to the Props Mistress (Megan Dalke). The costuming was fabulous
due to the masterful efforts of the Costume Crew (Isabelle Chabinyc and Valentina Thomas) implementing the great
scheme of the Costume Designer (Renee
Levey) and her sidekick, Assistant Costumer (Hanna Chilton).
I
don’t imagine we’d have made it to the play at all without the School
Assemblies PR (Alexis Henderson)
being done just right, might not have known about this fine storytelling
opportunity. And I suppose the production might have gotten closed down were it
not for expert Grant Management (Gary
Gemberling).
Photography
(Jeff Aquilon) is important in ways
that may never been seen during the performance itself but it is appreciated
all the more for memories and PR. And this production is well worth
remembering, I know I will remember it well.
I
loved the movement of all on stage, the dances, the seamless integration of
characters moving about the stage and this would not have taken place without
Additional Movement (Katie Hahka). It
was a magical performance from the opening of the doors through each adventure,
change of lighting, and sound adjustment. Magic of this sort is the best and
must be coordinated (Isaac Lewis, Magic
Coordinator).
Now
you might be thinking I left the most important person out or put her last and
least. Not so. If you printed this piece out and taped it to a wall you would
see that this paragraph is at the bottom or the foundation. The foundation of a
good story told on stage like this is the Director (Shannon Saleh). I imagine the weight of the entire enterprise
rested on the director’s shoulders at some point in time. It was done with
class and grace.
I
believe I have covered everyone from the Production Staff, Crew and Set
Construction, and Cast and that is because this story could not have been told
as it was without every last one of them. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Well
done.
Thank
you,
Opa
jj
white (Opa, a part I play that I wouldn’t give up for the world)
* The Futterwacken is the name on a dance for which The Mad Hatter is
well-known to perform in moments of great joy and celebration.
