Drama Guild play on stage Nov. 22-23 at the Hughes Performing Arts Center
OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City High School Drama Guild will present Lewis Carroll’s beloved tale “Alice in Wonderland” on stage Nov. 22-23 in the Hughes Performing Arts Center.
“We wanted to do something fun and whimsical, a little more family-oriented show in which everybody can be a little crazy,” director Rob LeMaire said.
Despite being an uproariously good time, the play does have an underlying theme.
“The main idea is a young girl falls down a rabbit hole and is transitioning from childhood to adulthood, having to accept that she is in a dream and that whimsical things always are a part of us but we have to let them go at one point,” LeMaire said.
He said the audience can expect “a lot of jokes, innuendos and just complete wackiness.”
Those who would like to return to childhood, if for only a short while, can simply enjoy the colorful costumes and fantastical scenes.
Adapted by Anne Coulter Martens, the production promises an evening (or afternoon) of laughter, adventure and delightful absurdity for audiences of all ages.
Join Alice (Julia Colangelo) as she chases the White Rabbit (Avery Silva) down a hole and discovers a world unlike any other.
Encounter the Mad Hatter (Christian Hornig-Fineran) and March Hare (Noah Baker) at a chaotic tea party, play croquet with the Queen of Hearts (Siena Eden) and join a curious Caterpillar (Addison Bradshaw) for philosophical musings and a smoke.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are two classes with few participants. The cast has only two seniors and three juniors.
“The COVID years really wiped us out in terms of actors,” costume designer Ellen Byrne said.
LeMaire said nearly half the cast consists of 14 freshmen who are “super talented; they bring a lot to the table.”
Instead of seeing the inexperienced cast as a negative, LeMaire thinks it’s terrific for young actors to get more involved.
“I think it opens up more doors. It’s nice to work with them and create that rapport, and we’re hoping that as a club they will stick with it for all four years,” he said.
The production has an on-stage cast of 29 students plus backstage crew, tech crew and adult advisers.
Sophomore Julia Colangelo has the starring role as Alice. The Upper Township teen was in last year’s productions of “Robin Hood” and “Legally Blonde.”
“I love getting into character, I love getting into costume and I love being with everybody. It’s a really, really fun show,” Colangelo said. “I love the whole journey — I have loved ‘Alice in Wonderland’ for a long time; I love the book, I love the movies — so it is really fun to get in character as Alice and meet everybody along the way.”
Senior Avery Silva, a choice student from Margate, plays the White Rabbit. She said she is excited to be in a starring role after the upperclassmen graduated.
“I think it’s my favorite fall play I’ve done so far and I am so excited because this is my first lead role that I’ve ever had,” she said.
Siena Eden, a choice student from Margate and the other senior in the cast, is president of the Drama Guild.
As the Queen of Hearts, she never gets tired of saying “Off with her head!”
“It’s a lot of yelling,” she said of her character, noting her microphone may not be necessary. “I have to yell at my very close friends, which occasionally is funny.”
Perhaps headed for a career in teaching or child care, she said one of her favorite parts is all of the children — multiple siblings of cast members take part in the production.
“They are so sweet and actually really smart,” Eden said. “It’s really awesome working with young people.”
She also is looking forward to youngsters in the audience.
“It’s really exciting that you can get kids here and come in and see what the high-schoolers are doing,” she said.
Her costume is among the most elaborate in the play.
“Mama Byrne did amazing with it,” she said, noting it has a corset and three layers of skirts. “It’s incredible; she made it from scratch.”
Eden said the show is not the best part of the production.
“My favorite part of the show is always the process of working with other people and getting ready. The whole experience in general, before and after putting it on for people, is my favorite part,” she said.
Cousins Christian Hornig-Fineran and Noah Baker, both juniors, capitalize on their familial bond while playing the Mad Hatter and March Hare, stars of the tea party scene.
“I have taken a little bit of inspiration from the Disney version as well as other adaptations of the character that I have seen, but ultimately the character is my own. I have added my own original voice and am not trying to copy any other voices,” Hornig-Fineran said. “The character in Ocean City’s production is going to be Christian’s interpretation of the Mad Hatter and not anybody else’s.”
He said he considers himself a voice actor who is very animated.
“I’m going to bring in a lot of fun. I’m going to bring in a great voice. A little high-pitched, but it sounds mad and it sound like a a hatter and it’s really all that it has to be,” he said.
“The two of them get going. They made up crazy accents and have all kinds of jokes that they have going,” Byrne said. “One of Rob LeMaire’s philosophies of directing is that they get the character and then he tries to help them find the character by what they need to do to make it as outrageous as they want or as quiet as they want; they have a lot of freedom.”
Hornig-Fineran agreed, noting they are in only two memorable scenes.
“We have a lot of wiggle room to kind of bring a lot of fun to the show that otherwise, if we had a lot of scenes, would be more difficult to make these scenes as fun as they are,” he said.
“We’re making our goal to cram as much fun and excitement into these two scenes that we share,” Baker said. “We have so much chemistry to just bounce off each other.”
Emma Saul, a sophomore from Upper Township sporting orange cat-eye glasses, plays the elusive Cheshire Cat.
“I did a lot of research into the different versions. It is really interesting because no one really knows where the phrase ‘Grinning like a Cheshire cat’ came from, so I kind of have the freedom to interpret it how I wanted and I decided I wanted to make it a little bit sarcastic but keep the creepy.”
She said the show is fun for the young and young at heart.
“There’s a lot of humor hidden in this show if you really listen to it,” Saul said.
She also said she enjoys watching everything unfold from the start of the production and “how you see how everyone’s hard work contributes and you can notice the improvements.”
“This is a show where Alice is going on a journey, so it’s kind of symbolic of how we evolve and everyone works together, teaching each other different things,” Saul said. “As you develop yourself as a character, you also develop yourself as an actor.”
Addison Bradshaw, a choice student from Egg Harbor Township, is the inquisitive Caterpillar.
“It’s fun, I love my costume,” Bradshaw said. “Miss Byrne did a great job with it.”
Byrne is thrilled to be taking part in the performance.
“When Rob told me that we were going to do ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ I was very excited because of opportunities for really creative costuming, and I’m still working on it,” she said, laughing through straight pins.
Byrne said she chose to be subtle, hinting at the animals rather than putting the actors in bulky costumes and tried to mix a little bit of modern and traditional from what they had in the closet and what they could create from scratch.
“I want everyone to be able to see; nobody’s face is covered with anything. They will have creative makeup to suggest what they are,” Byrne said.
She feels the outfits help tell the story but also bring out the best in the actors “because they’re transformed once they put the costume on and they think more about what they are as the character.”
Byrne said she tries to make costumes so comfortable that the performers forget they are in costume and can let themselves go.
Set designed Paul Matusz, a district art teacher, has been working with the Drama Guild for many years, taking part in 35 to 40 productions.
He said Wonderland takes up much of the school’s large stage.
“This stage is so big, it’s very big,” he said. “Other theater productions usually have a smaller space, so making a set that fits this space is challenging, requires big set pieces.”
“A lot of the play kind of takes place in Wonderland, and there are different settings within Wonderland,” Matusz said, noting he was inspired to create “this world that is kind of real but not real.”
“We start with what you think an enchanted forest would like like and see how far you can go making it not real but still be real at the same time,” he said, noting it required “a lot of building, a lot of painting.”
They built a bunch of trees, some 16 feet tall, and other elements like a trap door for Alice to go into the rabbit hole.
Freshman Willow Tyrrell and junior Callie Lenko of Ocean City, part of the stage crew, were busy getting things ready.
Other student performers in the production are Lily Pettit as Duchess, Adam Wertzberger as King, Cassidy Campanella as Dormouse, Hannah Oliver as Cook, Sam Lowe as Frog Footman, Tegan Goodwin as Humpty Dumpty, Sydney Burwell as Tweedledum, Hannah Dolinsky as Tweedledee, Andrew Pelaez as Knave, Addison Bradshaw as Courtier, Bradin Roberts as Mock Turtle, Sydney Chin as Gryphon, Brodie Mason as Executioner, Ingrid Pohlig as Gardener Two, Sean Wilde as Gardener Five, Nathan Lera as Gardener Seven, Olivia Morgan as Flower-Girl Pink, Sarah Smith as Flower-Girl Blue, Rhyan Wilkin as Flower-Girl White, Scarlett-Rose Romano as Flower-Girl Yellow, Sydney Chin as Flower-Girl Rose, Bradin Roberts as Flower-Girl Violet, Isaac Thompson as Soldier 1 and Tim Arsenault as Soldier 3. Olivia Morgan, Sarah Smith, Michaela Voegtlin, Rhyan Wilkin and Scarlett-Rode Romano as Ladies.
Performances are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, and 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Bill & Nancy Hughes Performing Arts Center at Ocean City High School, 501 Atlantic Ave. in Ocean City.
Tickets are available online at our.show/aiwl
The Drama Guild provides students with opportunities to develop their acting, singing and technical skills in a supportive and collaborative environment. Visit ocsdnj.org to learn more.
– STORY by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
