Theatre for Families Season Sponsor Presenting Sponsor

Part of ZACH’s Theatre For Families Series, produced in partnership with Underbelly

Illus

trat

ion:

Rōn

ā Eb

ert

Media SponsorSupporting Sponsors

Audience Enrichment Guide

When Lewis Carroll wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, he was responding, in part, to the buttoned-up rules and regulations of the Victorian world around him. In the original story, Alice is bored sitting by her sister on the riverbank and, out of pure curiosity, follows a rabbit wearing a pocket watch. In Underbelly’s adaptation, it’s Alice’s frustration with the adults around her (who are more interested in checking their email than looking at the cool paper boat she’s made) that sends her down the rabbit hole. And that rabbit’s pocket watch has become a boom box, rumbling us along on Alice’s journey.

Underbelly plays are mash-ups of era and influence. For Alice, we looked at the ways Middle Eastern and Roma dance music influenced 1960s surf rock. And the way that same surf rock inspired punk bands like The Clash and Agent Orange. As Alice runs through Wonderland, those rolling, surf-rock sounds surround familiar characters from both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Though the bluster and backwards-up logic of folks like The Red Queen, Mad Hatter, and Humpty Dumpty carry over from Carroll’s originals, we’ve updated some of the language for an Alice that lives with us in 2016.

May Alice’s adventures be your own today. May we all stay curiouser and curiouser.

About the Set Design by Stephanie BusingThis adaptation of Alice in Wonderland invites audiences to move through many scenes around ZACH’s campus and experience the play with the characters in their environments.

This walkway transforms into the Garden of Flowers, above for example, and is designed so that actors can become the flowers, talking to the audience through the petals. And some lucky audience members are even given watering cans to spritz the flowers with!

About the Costumes by Mercedes O’BannionThe challenge for the costume design of this production is to create a new way of experiencing Lewis Carroll’s iconic Wonderland characters. What you see is a colorful, quirky, and crafty crew as if it was handmade by Alice herself. By using old crochet granny blankets to build the costumes, a new interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s world comes to life. Some of the sketches are shown above right.

MATH: Homework from The Red QueenCount the hearts on the cards to solve the math problems below.

7 - 5 = 2 + 4 = 4 x 2 = 11 - 8 =

2 x 5 = 3 + 2 = 9 - 2 = 10 - 9 =

For Grown Ups: Notes from the directors and playwrights

Katie Bender & Gabrielle Reisman

Amazing!Humpty Dumpty wants to help Alice find her parents. Please show him the way.

Design your own costumeHere are some of the costume designer’s drawings of different characters.

Humpty Dumpty

Alice’s parents

AliceTweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Red Queen

in

out

Which character would you like to design for? Draw your design on the blank paper below.

The Alice in Wonderland TeamDirectors/Playwrights .............Katie Bender and Gabrielle ReismanAlice.......................................................Lilah Guaragna / Trinity JohnstonRed Queen/Cheshire Cat/Flower .......................Madison WeinhofferHelena/Humpty Dumpty/Mad Hatter ................Francesca DouglasMark/Paper Queen/March Hare ........................................Nicholas KierEdwin/Knave of Hearts/Sheep Duchess ...................... Chase BrewerWhite Rabbit/Caterpillar ....................................................... Joseph UrickMouse ..................................................Cassie Reveles / Oktavea WilliamsDodo ....................................................... Sam Pavich / /Robert Di DonatoLizard ......................................................Austin Dowling / Malyssa QuilesTortoise ............................ Kinsey Shackelford / Sommer NeugebauerTweedle Dee/Flower .................................Sam Gorena / Janie MacklinTweedle Dum/Flower .......................... Briana Garcia / Jacob BasquezStage Manager ........................................................................Megan SmithAssistant Stage Manager .............................................Kristian Wolf PiñaSet and Video Designer ............................................... Stephanie BusingCostume Designer ..................................................Mercedes O’BannionProp Designer ................................................................................Scott GrohLighting Designer ............................................................. Rachel AtkinsonSound Designer/Composer .....................................Peter StopschinskiDramaturg/Assistant Director .........................................Marian KansasEducation Director .........................................................................Nat MillerAssociate Education Director .................................................. Chad DikePre-Professional Manager ......................................................... Jen YoungEducation Associate ....................................................................Kate ShawEducation Assistant ................................................................Shannon Fox

1510 Toomey Road, Austin, Texas 78704 | Phone: 512-476-0594 x236 | Fax: 512-476-0314 | zachtheatre.org | education@zachtheatre.org

Dear ZACH;

Write to Us!Write a letter or draw a picture to describe your favorite part of the play and mail it to:

ZACH Education Department1510 Toomey RoadAustin, Texas 78704

Discussion Questions• What were your favorite parts of the play? Why?

• How was the play like the books Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass? How was it different?

• Who were your favorite characters in the play? Who would you invite to a tea party?

• What was your favorite part about traveling around ZACH? How did it help tell the story?

• Why was Alice so upset at the beginning of the play? How did traveling through Wonderland help her solve her problems?

Official Healthcare Sponsor of ZACH

This project is funded and supported in part by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.

. .

LANGUAGE ARTS: Create a Wonderland CharacterIn his stories, Lewis Carroll creates many wonderful characters. Use your imagination and create your own Wonderland character in the spaces provided.

What kind of creature are you? Are you an animal? An object? A plant? A combination of different things? Name your character below:

_____________________________________________

How does your character behave? What makes them special? Do they have any powers?

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

If your character were to meet Alice, what would they say to her? What riddles would they tell? What advice would they give her?

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

Draw your character in the box below. If you have time, see if you can put that creature in your body and act it out for your class or family!