Director's Note
“You can’t help it. We’re all mad here!” Freedom Theatre is ecstatic to start off this season with Alice in Wonderland, a well-known, family-friendly show jam packed with kooky characters and wild accusations. This creative tale is an accurate portrayal of Lewis Carroll’s vision for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with added elements from its sequel Through the Looking Glass. The production focuses on Alice as she travels through the wild and inventive locations that make up Wonderland and through her own self-discovery. Come along with us as we dive into the “rabbit hole” of imagination of a young girl as she tries to make sense of this new and magical place.
In an age when children struggle with creativity and imagination in the face of multimedia stimulus, this play returns us to the roots of storytelling and allows for creative interpretation of its characters. There have been many versions presented in film, each unique in its portrayal of iconic characters with whom Alice interacts. Our show features many new faces on stage, and each brings a distinctive element to her or his character that is special and specific to Freedom. Lewis Carroll spent little time in his children’s books describing the looks and mannerisms of characters, instead focusing on the world in which Alice was traveling through and her reactions to those spaces and characters. The technical elements provide a context for you to adventure with Alice as she finds her way through Wonderland and her own insecurity.
This production allowed for a depth of creativity in many elements and, more importantly, provided an opportunity for students to take artistic leadership on creating the world that you see on stage. Each scene takes place somewhere new, and it takes exceptional collaboration between all technical elements to create such a cohesive vision. The actors not only had to play incredibly prominent characters, but they had to find a way to synthesize what people know of the story and their own creative process. Marketing to young audiences became a major focus for our publicity team, and we have had the opportunity to return to our feeder elementary schools to perform a promotional show the week before the show.
Without the passion and dedication of the cast and crew, this play could not have come together to be the production you are watching tonight. I am deeply honored to be a part of such a creative and unique group of young artists, and I would like to express my extreme gratitude for the hard work put into this production. The incredible parent support provided the backbone for us, while the sincere dedication of the actors and technicians allowed the show its grace. It took the commitment of every person involved to make this show successful, and I could not be more proud of the work we have done together.
