This definitely isn’t Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland”
“Alice in Wonderland” will be Nov. 16 and Nov. 17 in the Watertown High auditorium
Raider Times photo / Anthony Lampasona
One of the posters promoting the fall play, “Alice in Wonderland,” hangs near the cafeteria stairs at Watertown High School. The play will performed three times Nov. 16-17, 2018.
October 13, 2018
You may think you know the story of “Alice in Wonderland,” but you can throw all your ideas down the rabbit hole.
“This definitely isn’t your Disney ‘Alice in Wonderland’,” shared play director Kacie Kirkpatrick on her second play at Watertown High School.
The first play she directed at WHS was just last year, as she hasn’t always been in the theater program. She grew up in Saratoga, N.Y. She went to college for performance at Suffolk University, but later returned to Emerson for her masters degree in theater education. She also went to Simmons College for a degree in special education teaching, which is what she teaches at WHS when she isn’t teaching her new drama class.
Her drama class started just this year and currently has only three students, but she is hopeful it will grow in the future. She is also known for once being the student teacher for Abby Casey, the music and theater teacher at Watertown Middle School.
“Alice in Wonderland” will be staged Friday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the WHS auditorium. The cast currently rehearses three times every week, but as the performance draws closer it will have practice every day.
In the new production, the part of Alice is filled by Yeraz Kaligian, and the rest of the cast is an ensemble, which means the performers will carry equal weight, no one more important than the others.
The large cast has 22 students, from all four grades at WHS. This is the largest cast any fall school play has had at WHS, said Ms. Kirkpatrick. Not only is the cast largely involved this year, but the crew plays a huge role in the production of the play. The crew is made up of 10 students and is run by Josie Jones, who is also the tech director. WHS junior Toni Carton has a massive role in the crew, taking care of a lot of the technology.
“I don’t even know what to call her, she does everything,” Ms. Kirkpatrick said.
As for what exactly makes the production of this play so special is that it has a very strange element. The play will be interactive, with the actors actually entering the audience, breaking the Fourth Wall.
The Fourth Wall is a term used to describe the imaginary wall that traditionally separated actors and audiences. When it is broken, the audience has a chance to participate and the actors enter the audience. Ms. Kirkpatrick says that there will be several instances where this will happen in the performance.
Not only is this a play that’s never been done by the WHS theater program before, it also has this unique format that has never been explored before.
When prompted about the most surprising parts of the play, Ms. Kirkpatrick held back.
“I want to keep all the surprises a secret, so you’ll have to come watch it if you want to know,” she said.
–Oct. 13, 2018–
