Day 2 of Alice Madness!

Day 2 of Alice in Wonderland Jr. Madness has just finished! We had another very productive day.  We had the rare opportunity to take a trip to the University of Rochester’s Rush Rhees library where they are holding an exhibit : Alice in the Looking Glass: Illustrations and Artists Books from 1865-2012.(Open now until August 16) Since we are going to the exhibit in shifts; actors, costumers, property builders, set builders, advertising and marketers and theatre techs, by tomorrow, will have completed the opportunity to become a Theatre Dramaturge. (One who researches theatre.) The Collector, Mrs. Jeanne Harper, explained to the kids why she was so interested in the book and what her collection means to her.  Her collection was extensive and she was so pleased that the kids were able to visit! What great timing!!

I have given the students the task to answer the following questions:

1) Actors: By looking at these illustrations- what can you use to help your character development- how would you hold your body? Is there something you saw that can help you on stage?

2) Costumers/Make Up: Are there any elements that you would possibly add to an existing costume to make the character seem more like one of the examples you saw in one of the Illustrations? Would it be interesting hair style or Make up choice?

3) Properties: Were there any elements that you thought were interesting? And how would you put them on the stage….

4) Set: What pieces would you put in if we had to design all over again!  (Don’t worry we won’t!  But I am interested in what you would do if you could!)

5) Tech: What lighting design would you choose?  Technical theatre is creative too!  Think about it!

6) Advertising: How would you advertise the show? Based upon what you saw today, is there something that you would like to do to the bulletin board outside the theatre to draw more people in?

6) Everyone:  How did you like the visit?  Would you re-read the book if you haven’t already?

What was thrilling for me was to see the kids make connections with what they saw in the exhibit to what they were doing on stage. And now my students are fully engaged in the process of theatre! WOOT!  I can’t wait to read their comments: which should be in the comment section of this blog post.

After our visit, we did another run through, worked with our props and our builders are starting to bring the bare stage alive! The drop was hung and additional trees and mushroom painted. Props crew got the boat painted and built. The bulletin board outside was sketched and painted and the tech crew got mics on and ran lighting cues.As the Mad Hatter Says in our show… ” I want you to LIVE! I Command you to LIIIIVVVE!!”  Alice in Wonderland is starting to come alive!

Set Mushrooms Coming together!

Day 1 complete!

How did day one fair? Quite successfully I may say!  Day 1 equated to students and faculty members worked on completing costumes, props, bulletin boards, set pieces and hung black lights for one of our scenes and our drop arrived! Actors ran through various scenes and worked some of the props that have been created. There was a lot of re-spacing.  Things change in the space now that some of the set is now being installed, so re-spacing is a necessity! It was a VERY busy, busy day but a lot was accomplished! It is all starting to come together! It is only going to get better and better as the days go on!