Dear Alice

 

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.