ALICE Pictures

I just received photographs from the wonderful production of my adaptation of Alice in Wonderland that toured through North Carolina earlier this month.

East Carolina University produced the show, which was directed by Nick Lease and Michael Eubanks. A couple of the performances were at the Turnage Theatre in Washington, N.C., and another was at Parkwood Elementary School in Jacksonville, N.C. They took some great photos, and I wanted to share a few of them here.

Here's Alice (Catie Griffin) with her sister Lorina (Jordan Biggers) at the beginning of the show:

Alice falls down the rabbit hole and finds herself in a rather curious place.

Once in Wonderland, she encounters the Duchess, played here by Emma Myers.

A friendly cat (played here by Michael VanHouten) helps her along the way.

Here's the crazy tea party with the Mad Hatter (Connor Gerney), the Dormouse (Tyler Whitley), and the March Hare (Grant Morgan).

The highlight of the show was a manxome Jabberwock. You should have heard its mighty burbles when it came whiffling through the tulgy wood...

Fortunately, Alice slew the beast with her vorpal sword. What a finale!

Thanks to everyone who made the show a success, including sound and lighting designers Jayme Johns and Andrew Fiorini, Dylan Bailey and Jordan Early who costumed the piece, and puppet designer David Lynn. Leslie Shaw stage managed the show, and Patch Clark provided faculty supervision.

Here's a shot of the whole goofy cast and crew:

Everyone at ECU was great, and I hope to work with them again some day.

Wonderland, N.C.

This afternoon, I saw the students of East Carolina University put on a wonderful production of my adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

Today's show was in Jacksonville, N.C., at Parkwood Elementary School. Lots of folks showed up, including my old friend Jeff Hidek, who I used to do theater with in Pensacola, and who now lives in Wilmington.

It was great to see Jeff again, and his daughter seemed to enjoy the show, as did the other kids in attendance. Jacksonville doesn't get a lot of live theater, and this might have been their first play for some of the kids in the audience.

Catie Griffin, who plays Alice, did a wonderful job, and kids seemed to really relate to her. Michael VanHouten plays Lewis Carroll, as well as the Cheshire Cat and the White Knight. When he fell off his horse as the White Knight, there were howls of laughter from the audience.

The rest of the cast, likewise, did an excellent job. Jordan Biggers, who plays Alice's sister Lorina, also grabbed the audience's attention as the Cook and Tweedle Dee. Tyler Whitley, who plays Tweedle Dum (as well as the Dormouse and the King of Hearts), is considerably taller than her, but the staging made use of their height difference to great comic effect.

Emma Myers was delightfully frightening as the Queen of Hearts (also playing the Duchess and the Carpenter), and Connor Gerney was delicious as the Mad Hatter. Conner also operated some of the puppets, and his frog footman was a big hit with the audience. Of course, you can't have the story without the White Rabbit, which Grant Morgan hoppily played, jumping across the stage, later returning both as the March Hare and as the Walrus.

Many thanks to Nick Lease and Michael Eubanks for directing this production, and to the whole crew who helped bring it off today. Tomorrow, the show will be playing at the Turnage Theatre in Washington, N.C. at 2:00. The performance is free and open to the public, so if you're in the area, please come on out to see it!

ALICE Featured in Jacksonville Paper

My adaptation of Alice in Wonderland has been featured in an article in the Jacksonville Daily News in North Carolina.

I just arrived in North Carolina tonight, but earlier today the show had its first performance. There will be another performance I'll get to see tomorrow, and then one more I'll get to see on Sunday, after which I'll be heading back home.

You can read the article here if you're interested. I spoke with the reporter on Thursday over the phone, so I'm quoted in it, as is Liz Owens of the Zing Zumm Children's Museum. The play is being produced by East Carolina University, and is directed by two ECU seniors, Nick Lease and Michael Eubanks.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing the show tomorrow!

ALICE Opens Next Week!

I'm very excited that my stage adaptation of Alice in Wonderland will receive its world premiere in North Carolina next week.

East Carolina University students Nick Lease and Michael Eubanks are directing the production, and I've been in touch with them over e-mail. We've made a few changes to the script, some of which I'll be keeping for future productions, others of which are necessary for a younger audience, but might be adjusted for different productions going forward.

The piece will open on Friday, March 16th, but I'll be having to miss that performance, as my plane doesn't get in until quite late. I will see the performance on the following day at the Children's Museum in Jacksonville, as well as the performance on March 18th at the Turnage Theatre in Washington. (Apparently, North Carolina has a lot of towns named after presidents.)

Though this production will be the world premiere, Kim Sharp previously directed two staged readings of the piece at the Abingdon Theatre Company.

If you live in North Carolina and you're in the area, maybe you can pop in for tea!

Alice Premieres Next Month

Next month, I'll be heading down to North Carolina for the first fully staged production of my adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

The production is being directed by Nick Lease and Michael Eubanks, two students at East Carolina University who are putting it together as their senior project. Their professor, Patch Clark, is mentoring them.

I'll be missing the first showing of the piece on Friday, March 16th, but I'll be there for a Saint Patrick's Day performance at the Children's Museum in Jacksonville, N.C. I'll get to see it again on March 18th at the historic Turnage Theatre in Washington, N.C.

I first wrote the adaptation at the request of the late great Christopher Catt. Kim Sharp at the Abingdon Theatre Company later directed two staged readings of the piece, the latter of which starred Mckenna Cox as Alice. She passed the script on to the folks at her alma mater, E.C.U.

And now, the play will be getting a full production! I'm looking forward to seeing it.