This past weekend, Santiago’s theater performers put on a play of wonder with their take on Alice in Wonderland. They took the basic story line and added a few interesting comical twists. Despite the performers’ best efforts, many who viewed the play didn’t enjoy it as much as they thought they would. Some found the play to be boring while others said it was good, but not as enjoyable to watch as some of the other performances put on. I, sadly, have to agree.
While watching the play on Friday, I felt such excitement when the White Rabbit, played by Kimberly Sheldon (12), came on stage where Kat Chavez (12) awaited, portraying the Cheshire Cat- fitting considering they’re both K/Cats, ha-ha. Anyways, I was physically bouncing with excitement over the mere sight of the first performers’ entrance, because I, along with many others, love Alice in Wonderland. Alice, played by Melanie Villalobos (11), came out next. The young woman brought some laughs from the crowd as she over-exaggerated her struggle to get over a wall in order to enter Wonderland and continue chasing after the White Rabbit. When she spoke though, I was a little confused. I was confused because she spoke with an “I’m not in Kansas anymore” southern twang. Whether that was intentional or not, it took away from the character that Lewis Carrol created many years ago. Villabos wasn’t the only one that created this disconnection from her character; Kat also changed her character’s accent at times which was rather odd. Despite this, the two played their characters rather well, especially Ms. Chavez who went as far as winking at the end of the play and sauntering off, very similar to the way the Cheshire Cat did in the animated film directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske.

Going back chronologically, after Alice’s entrance, she should have shrunk and grew and shrunk and grew with the help of the “drink me” liquid in a vile and then later an “eat me” sweet, but in the play, Alice just grabbed the key off the table with ease and then, instead of using the door, she just walked around it- as the Cheshire Cat instructed. Which, I guess is a reasonable spin on it, considering shrink/grow rays aren’t exactly invented yet, nor did the cast have magical size controlling abilities- that Shark Attack knows about. However, I would have liked to see them incorporate this scene in a more accurate portrayal into the play, because this scene is truly powerful in a sense that one can truly understand the confusion, distress, and loneliness the girl felt when falling through that rabbit hole. To change the scenes, cards of the queen came out, played by Bella Totpal (12), Hong Phan(12) and Carrie Carlson (12) made faces and danced in a funny manner to get a few giggles out of the crowed as they also pulled stage props off of the stage and reset for the next scene. During this time, it would have been extremely nice to have had a narration going on to explain what just happened and what would happen next in regards to where Alice was traveling, but nothing was given.

As Alice began her journey to go meet the Queen of Hearts and find the door that fits the key, Alice meets several others along her way including, but not limited to, and listed in no particular order: the caterpillar, portrayed by Tyler Waltson,  the Frogfootman, embodied by Rocco Novello (11), Tweedledee and Tweedledum, played by Rocco Novello and Chris Perkins (12), and those from the Mad Hatter’s tea party, played by James Evans, Faith Orta, and Kate Crissinger. Waltson played quite the believable Caterpillar, with his calming tone of voice and the smoke effects, but the clarity of the scene wasn’t all too well done, as some of what was said was lost as it could barely be heard. Those at the tea party; however, confused those in the audience quite a bit with their incoherent speech patterns, yet it’s something that can be forgiven since no one actually knows the Hatter’s recipe for tea. Twleedledee and Tweedledum truly stole the show away with their take on the telling of the tale of “The Walrus and the Carpenter”. The twins were astounding as their characters truly came to life through their portrayal, as it seemed almost natural for the two to be finishing each others’ sentences.

The show goes on with Alice’s visitation to the Dutchess and her entourage made up of her cook and “baby”, played by Christina Duncanson (11), Ashlee Barragan (12), and a stuffed pig, a Mock Turtle and Gryphon, portrayed by Chloe Rodgers (10) and Sage Sullivan(10), and many many others played by Kaycee Kearns-Burns (9), Ruby Blakesleay(11), Izzy Langdon(11), Ashlynn Kruzel (12), Lily Nguyen (9), Jess Hagen(10), and Trevor Barragan(10).  While the Dutchess was played fairly, the Cook seemed to be played a bit too dramatically. The stuffed pig was perfect though ha-ha, but there could have been more pig sound effects. The Turtle and Gryphon had a nice interaction with Alice that made a number of people laugh, which was nice.

The best of the play, aside from the twins’ introduction, had to be the Queen of Heart’s hosted game of croquet. The cards who worked as stage hands earlier came out again and had the crowd in a fit of giggles as they fell to the ground and struggled to get up several times and worked to be the best hoops for the game. Cleaning up after the event was sad, yet funny though. Many felt sympathetic for Totpal, who just couldn’t carry all of the balloons that were used for balls of the stage by herself and so the crowd witnessed her struggle of finally getting them all and then dropping a few and having to pick them back up again. Totpal didn’t let this ruin the show though, as she played the cards dealt with her and made funny faces to go with this improvised act.

In the end, the play wasn’t terrible, although a little boring, but wasn’t fabulous either. It was a good and enjoyable performance, that many are honored to have watched. Sadly, the audience was just expecting a bit more in comparison to Santiago’s Horror Night Live and Little Shop of Horrors showcases. The Santiago High School student-run newspaper, The Shark Attack, would like to congratulate the performers and all of those who made the show possible. We wish Theater the best in future performances.