Seventh and eighth graders at Niverville Middle School (NMS) are going mad as a hatter as they pull together last-minute preparations for their upcoming stage production of Alice in Wonderland.
On March 25–26, the public is invited to witness the fun and the frolic, stage side, in the school gymnasium. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12. They are available at the middle school administrative office.
In blue dress and white apron, Yoongia (Gia) Slabbert is thrilled for the opportunity to play Alice. She admits to feeling some kinship with the story’s protagonist, at least in terms of her unquenchable curiosity.
“I just like performing,” Slabbert says. “I join every single play that I can. Before auditioning [this time] I really wanted to get a good role, so I searched plays and read the book and watched the movie about ten times.”
Alice Dacombe will take on the character of the White Rabbit, although she promises the audience that she won’t be late. For Dacombe, the character’s perpetually poor timing is part of the appeal.
“I just love how the White Rabbit is always late,” Dacombe says. “I can actually relate to that a lot. I hate being late!”
Grade Five teacher and drama instructor Kailyn Dunn is excited to unveil the production too. Her love of drama goes way back to the years when she herself lit up the same stage at Niverville Collegiate Institute.
“It’s great to be back in the same school, teaching and promoting some of the love for theatre that I had growing up,” Dunn says.
Alice in Wonderland marks the fourth stage production since performing arts returned to NMS. In recent years, students have also performed The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast.
When choosing productions, Dunn says she looks for stories that are familiar to her students and their families.
Slabbert and Dacombe can’t help but poke a little fun at Dunn for choosing plays where the main character always seems wear a blue dress. They joke that Cinderella would be the next obvious direction.
If you’ve only seen Alice in Wonderland on film, Dunn says there may be a component of the NMS stage production that surprises you.
“When Alice lands in Wonderland, she finds she’s not the only Alice there,” Dunn says. “Now she’s trying to prove that she’s the real Alice, so it adds this layer of confusion and whimsy.”
For Dunn, choosing a cast and crew requires leaving no one out in the cold. Every single student who takes the time to show up for an audition will land a position, whether on stage or behind the scenes with the lighting and staging crew.
This year, when 35 kids came out to audition, that motto presented a little bit of a dilemma. Dunn had to get creative, adding extra roles and doubling up on others. In the end, everyone’s got a spot.
To Slabbert, characters such as the White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat, among others, inspire her to consider different castes of human society. The Queen of Hearts, for example, is the harsh political leader who uses fear as a tactic for control.
In Alice herself, Dacombe sees someone who struggles with identity issues.
“I feel like it represents slowly losing yourself as you are affected by the people around you,” Dacombe says.
For Dunn, the story has a much more lighthearted underlying message: “Don’t lose sight of the fun. Find the fun in all of the craziness of life.”
In the end, the cast hopes to see complete sellouts on both nights and during their matinee show.
“Everyone in this play has done a lot of work, even those with small roles,” Slabbert says. “And our Miss Dunn did a lot of work. I would like people to acknowledge that while they are watching this play.”
While a production like this does, in fact, require a lot of hard work and preparation, Dunn emphasizes the confidence it builds in kids. That’s what makes all the effort so worthwhile.
“It’s also helping them find a community,” she adds. “In a time when you’re discovering yourself, what you like, and who you are, you’re finding like-minded people.”