The Gazette-Enterprise

Time. Time. There is not much time. But if you hurry, there is still a chance to see the Seguin High School’s performance of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

The school’s drama department is bring the production to life for one public performance on Thursday, Oct. 29 at the high school’s auditorium.

Sheila Lucas, director, said the story line the thespians are working with is a version that differs from Walt Disney’s film and is closer to original author’s.

“This adaptation is by Tim Kelly and it follows the characters of Lewis Carroll pretty well,” she said. “We have enjoyed researching ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and how Lewis Carroll wrote it for a little girl named Alice.”

The title character, as portrayed by senior Lauren Bouquet, is an curious girl who follows a white rabbit that takes her to a new world where she encounters a number of interesting residents and creates new ambitions.

“Her goal is to become queen and she has to go through all of these trials and tribulations to get her crown,” Bouquet said. “At the end she gets her crown and nothing happens. She doesn’t get to become queen like she wanted to.”

Ryan Sozzi, a senior, said the story line follows a young adventurous girl through a world unlike any other.

“It’s very confusing for Alice as she is going through a whole new dimension or world,” he said. “She thinks she is going to become Queen and she thinks that this is real life and doesn’t realize what is going on. It’s real twisted and confusing and everything has it’s own background.”

Sozzi takes on one of the more unforgettable roles of the play, The Mad Hatter.

“The Mad Hatter is scared of time, which he speaks about in the show,” he said. “He tells people how he quarreled with time quite a while back. In time, he is referring to his watch. They fought and time wouldn’t work for him. The Queen told him ‘you’re forgetting time,’ and that’s when he realized time has nothing to do with him anymore.”

His persona, Sozzi added, is one-of-a-kind and can be perceived as a scary one.

“He is crazy and wild. He is one of those people, if you were really to meet someone like this you would want to run,” he said. “I have related to many characters, but not this one — maybe due to the fact that he is kind of crazy.”

Previous children’s plays have had a more straightforward plot while this year’s has been a bit more abstract, Sozzi said.

“This one is very dimensional and mind boggling compared to some of the others we have performed,” he said. “My freshman year we did ‘Charlotte’s Web’ and we have done ‘Jack and the Magic Beans.’ They are both basic story lines and this one is just out there. It is one of those ones that I have always wanted to do and now I am getting to do it.”

While it may seem a little more complicated, Sozzi said, the children will love it.

“There is lots of bright colors, it’s fun, and there’s going to be a lot going in within each scene,” he said. “There is so many characters that you may not have known about. There is the Red Queen and the White Queen, there is the fish and the frog footman. You have the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, the Caterpillar and all of those fun characters in there still.”

As it is the play is geared toward children, Bouquet said adding that there is content that grown-ups will enjoy, as well.

“I think the adults will also like it because there are some things in there that the kids won’t understand but the adults will,” she said. “The kids just like the whole action aspect.”

Since this is a children’s production, younger students started filling the auditorium on Tuesday to follow Alice down the rabbit hole, Lucas said.

“We are putting this one for every child in the district — K-6. We do nine shows — three a day — for the kids,” she said. “They love it. They scream, they holler, they laugh, they clap and yet they have been taught theater etiquette, so it’s a lot of fun to watch them try not to squeal when they want to squeal or scream when they want to scream.”

The presentation is not only to give the younger generation a chance at seeing a theatrical production but it is also a way to give back to the community, Lucas said.

“It is a canned food drive for our thespian troupe,” she said. “It all goes to the Christian Cupboard. It is a national competition between thespian troupes all across the states. We always fare pretty well, our little Seguin troupe sometimes gathers more food than some states.”

Thursday’s public performance starts at 7 p.m., and doors open at 6:30 p.m. Children attend free and adult tickets are $6 and $1 off with a canned food donation.

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