oAK CITY ACADEMY 2020-21

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    I am not sure about the kids, but I feel a little like Alice going down the rabbit hole… Alas it was not meant to be.  While there were many cool things parents missed on Monday night. I was more disappointed that really no one except me (including the kids and teachers, got to see the whole piece - and even I never saw it in costume).  So if you will indulge me, I’d like to tell you a bit about what we all should have shared together, had we gathered on Monday the 24th, or Friday the 14th, or at some point this year in Wonderland. 

When artists make films, they shoot out of sequence, over time, in different locations, with actors who may never meet .  The story isn’t fully told until it is completed in post-production. Live theater doesn’t generally work that way. But some kinds of experiencial theatre allow all of the puzzle pieces to lock in as the audience experiences it.  In fact - the audience, is often a piece themselves. If you have ever been to - or in - another Seed Art Share production, you know that is similar to our process. Our actors may only be familiar with their short play or scene unaware of where it fits into the context of the larger project. However, when the audience steps into their piece halfway through the performance in one section of a city block or corner of a museum, they are well aware of how it plays into the context of the full story.  This would have been the case with our audiences in the Oak City production of Alice in Wonderland.

And speaking of context.. Here was my context as a producer, director, and instructor teaching Pandemic Playmaking as of August 2020  I wanted to focus on a piece of 19th century literature with multiple that could be double or tripled (Fun fact - there were fourteen Alices in our show!) characters that could be performed  with simple costumes and props and could be performed with all covid protocols - masks, socially distanced actors, outside if needed and with  limited numbers of audience members depending on how regulations evolved.  That would require rotating audiences - which is how Seed constructs all of our shows so that was relatively easy for me to wrap my head around, but in this case, it also meant we would need/get to record dialogue with our middle schoolers.  So once the concept was set,  I chose the title and we were set to go. 

The Middle School students auditioned and were cast as different characters and recorded the script. Once the Middle Schoolers recorded the scenes, the Lower and Upper Elementary classes were assigned parts of the story to pantomime for audiences who rotated throughout the campus. We knew this would be possible with or without masks in the context of Covid regulations.   Blended Lower Elementary students opened the story by introducing Lewis Carrol, the author of Alice in Wonderland who began by photographing (with a period camera designed by middle schooler Lilah Borisov) a playful Alice Liddle, the daughter of his boss in 1865.  As she falls asleep, she begins to dream as the others sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.  The rotating Storytellers, lead the further down the middle building to the 2nd scene where we meet The White Rabbit who Alice follows down his hole.  Here BLE students create a hallway of lanterns, doors, and a table containing the infamous key and bottle labeled “Drink Me”. This allows her to fit through the smallest door. 

Around the corner, we meet a cast of mushrooms, on top of one which sits a caterpillar made up of four Lower Elementary students stacked in a row.   They encourage Alice to eat from one side of the mushroom which makes her grow taller than the trees. As she rounds the corner behind the building, she finds herself above the forest squaring off with a hilarious family of pigeons who believe she is just there to steal their eggs.  Side note: the pigeons' costumes were recycled from the silver triangles that were created to be the dragon scales for last year’s play that was canceled due to Covid.  Who knows what they will become next year! They send her packing.

The Middle School Storyteller leads us around the bend to meet the sly Cheshire Cat and his band of kitties from Lower Elementary 2 who meow their way through another round of ”Twinkle Twinkle”. When Alice asks for directions to the Queen, the cat points us to the March Hare and Mad Hatter’s home stating, “We’re all mad here.”  (And after this last year, I’m pretty sure that cat is on to something.)   We then arrive in the carport at the famous Mad Tea Party. This fall, several students colored mosaic pieces and glued them to cups and saucers which became the tea set for this scene.  Here the March Hare and Alice face off, the Doormouse recites riddles, and the Mad Hatter eventually sends everyone on their way. 

In the front of the back building, Alice finds herself in a garden of roses made by the Blended Upper Elementary Students. The gardeners, dressed as playing cards, run off as soon as they see the Queen of Hearts approaching in the distance.   

In Scene 8, at the adjacent garden, the Queen and Alice play a not so friendly game of croquet using flamingos for mallets and playing cards/humans as the targets.  When Alice challenges the Queen for cheating in the game, the Queen shouts “Off with her head”, arrests Alice and the Storyteller leads us up the hill to the carport for the trial.  

The remaining Upper Elementary students play the final recorded scene which concludes with Alice rallying the jury and court attendants to her side.   They chase her off as the queen contests on grounds of treason.  Once the “courtroom” is empty, Alice falls back asleep and is replaced “on stage” by Elli Breed who was the voice of Alice on the sound track.   

It is then that Lewis Carrol (played by Eli Paquette) enters the courtroom encouraging the crowd to sing “Twinkle Twinkle” to wake her  from this Wonderland dream. The Storyteller leads us to the back field to meet the Middle School voice actors who represent Alice’s dream and the play ends.  The Storyteller shares some closing historical information about Lewis Caroll which you can Google and we call it a night after 5 rotations that were about 15 minutes apart!  

That is what was supposed to happen. Since we were unable to perform, the Middle Schoolers' soundtrack will be edited and available for digital download for $7 on www.seedartshare.org.  

I am blessed by the work the kids put in and how all of the pieces fit together in our brains. I hope they will continue thinking outside of the box as we continue telling stories together.   Seed has lots of opportunities for kiddos to make plays this summer and next season.    Keep an eye on our website and follow us on social media for more information on upcoming events and student programs!