LEARNING FROM NONSENSE

Seated before the stage within the Holyoke JR/SR High School auditorium late Monday afternoon, Karina Davis placed rows of cards upon one another, piecing together decks scattered from the ceiling Saturday evening to end Dragon Theatre’s production of “Alice in Wonderland,” held from April 21-22. When the cards rained down upon the audience to end the final performance in a twirling cascade of white, red and black, Davis said, kids began to gasp something along the line of, “Oh! Oh my gosh! What’s happening?”

The light, she said, “went all rainbow” and the children squealed.

“And they jumped out their seats and they were running around up here in the cards,” Davis said. “And it was magical. It was magical.”

“It did feel magical,” noted Jes-c French, seated in the front row nearby.

“It felt very magical,” Davis concluded.

For “Alice in Wonderland,” Davis and French returned for a second run at co-directing following their first collaboration with Dragon Theatre in the fall with “Shrek The Musical.”

“I was really pleased that ‘Shrek The Musical’ was something that appealed to whole families,” French said, raising her voice over the roar of an electric drill in the background as students dismantled the set. “There were a lot of kids who came out, [and] a lot of adults who don’t have kids or don’t have kids still in school.”

With strong attendance on Friday, about 300 people arrived in total to see “Alice in Wonderland.” Upon the stage, Holyoke junior Hannah Lindholm took on a puzzled expression as the character of Alice, a young girl, as she butted against a talking caterpillar who often acted “contrary,” a mad hatter and a March hare for whom every time is teatime, and a royal court whose idea of both justice and croquet would appear suspect to many, among other challenges.

Speaking on their roles, Lindholm, along with seniors Alma Alejandre and Piper McConachie – the Mad Hatter and Caterpillar respectively – addressed the importance of projecting one’s voice (“your grandma’s in the back,”  McConachie noted) and developing confidence. Her confidence in acting, Lindholm said, has helped carry over to more professional settings, leading to success in both Future Business Leaders of America; and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America.

In keeping with the play’s thematic trajectory, McConachie noted, she has learned through theater to work with others – even those normally outside her social circle.

“It’s a group for everybody, so there’s no reason to just exclude anybody just because you don’t like them,” she said. “In life, you may be around people you don’t like, but it doesn’t mean the experience has to be bad overall.”

For Davis, who describes herself as having a “Type-A” personality, the experience of bringing the event together helped her realize “it’s okay to be a little nonsensical.” The character of Alice, given her journey in the play, might also relate to this idea.

“You can learn just as much from [the funny] moments,” Davis said, “as the serious, teaching moments.”

One of cast’s best rehearsals, according to French, occurred when everyone performed a script read-through with fake accents – none of the actors could use their real voices or their chosen characters’ voices.

“Some characters were born of that,” she said, citing cast member Jimena Nuñez’s cook character in particular. For the rehearsal, according to French,  Nuñez put on a Southern accent, one that proved similar to the voice the audience heard during the play on Friday and Saturday evening.

“I think it was the most hilarious rehearsal we had from all of ‘Alice,’” Davis added. “We had everything from Shakira to – Donald Trump, wasn’t that?”

Forming one’s character proved different for each actor. According to Alejandre, she started “bland” and needed to learn to act with her body, eventually rushing around the stage during the actual play and – at one point – dramatically throwing her hat to the ground while reciting questionable evidence against the Knave of Hearts in a trial to ascertain who stole the Red Queen’s tarts. To get to that point, she said, required “reading through the script and everything in between” to incorporate “every aspect” of her character into the performance. McConachie, meanwhile, “really didn’t have to do much work” for the Caterpillar. She knew the part she wanted, acted toward it in auditions “specifically” and wrapped herself in a blue sleeping bag to fit the role.

“Like Alma said, she had to learn movements and cues,”  McConachie said, “but I just sit on a mushroom the entire time.”

Tying up the experience, both the play’s directors and actors suggested those interested to try out for productions, with Lindholm saying, “I wish more people would do them.” Alejandre, who designed the program’s cover art, originally joined Dragon Theatre as a freshman because she wanted extra credit in an English class. Now, she continued, “I ended up loving it and now I’m stuck in theater.”

“Even if it’s just crew backstage, everything’s fun,” she said. “You can be making the sets, helping us move the sets, making our costumes, or doing the ads and posters.

“You can try anything in theater.”

As a “shameless plug,” French added, Phillips County Players may be sought out for adults interested in the theatrical world. Davis, meanwhile, realized some of her cards were missing.