“Alice Through the Looking Glass” will be presented by Laugh/Riot Performing Arts Company beginning April 9 at Edinboro University’s Diebold Center for the Performing Arts.
Directed by Josh Mizikowski, “Alice Through the Looking Glass” tells a story of an incredible journey, reuniting audiences with Lewis Carol’s iconic character, Alice, as she travels to a new world with fantastic characters, new dangers and magic.
The play is based on an 1871 novel written by Carol as a sequel to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” written six years earlier.
The novel was adapted to the stage by James Reaney and has a run time of roughly two hours and 12 minutes.
The play begins as Alice climbs through her living room mirror and enters a world of wonders populated by such fantastical characters as Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Walrus and the Carpenter and the fearsome Jabberwock.
Ashley Dolnack, senior communication arts major said the “Alice in Wonderland” movies have always been some of her favorites.
“I’ve always wanted to read ‘Through the Looking Glass’ and I didn’t know that it was a play, so the fact that it’s so close is really cool,” Dolnack said.
“And that it’s done by fellow students is really neat because I appreciate seeing the kind of influence they have on a production in terms of costuming or lighting design or just even the overall look or feel of it.”
“Alice Through the Looking Glass” serves as Laugh/Riot’s final production in their Season of Wonderment. Appropriately enough, Laugh/Riot’s 2014 season ended with “Alice in Wonderland.” Continuing their fixation on Carol’s star character may bring to life audiences’ inner child.
The cast is almost completely composed of Edinboro University students; beloved Alice is played by Brooke Ebeling.
Other cast members play a variety of roles to round out the play. Montana Sertz plays the Red Queen and Hatter among other various characters. Liz Powers plays the White Queen and Tiger Lilly. Another feature actor is Anna Ashcraft, who plays Humpty Dumpty, Mother, Daisy and a few other roles.
It would seem that this cast of students is both flexible and talented – skills much needed in a fantasy play such as “Alice Through the Looking Glass.”
There have been various dramatic adaptations of Carol’s lesser known novel. It has been formed as a musical, a live movie, an animated movie and in 1928, a silent film.
What makes this “Alice Through the Looking Glass” so intriguing is that it’s been rarely performed as a play until now. Laugh/Riot’s production is one of the few that have been done of Reaney’s adaption.
Performances begin at 7:30 p. m. April 9-11 and 16-18 and at 2:30 p.m. April 12 and 19.
All shows will be at the Diebold Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Edinboro University located at 219 Meadville St., Edinboro, Pa. 16444.
General admission is $10, $5 for E.U.P faculty, staff and non-E.U.P students, and $3 for E.U.P students. Tickets can be purchased at the door or on the website at www.laughrioterie.com. For more information email [email protected].
BRIANNA WOODS
