GRIFFITH, IN – The Middle School showcased their production of “Alice in Wonderland” in the Griffith Auditorium from February 20-21 at 7 p.m., and February 22 at 3 p.m.
Alice In Wonderland is based on the novel, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” by Lewis Carroll. The story follows a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a magical, unbelievable world. The story has a film adaptation as well as numerous plays.
The play cast and crew began practicing in early November and ended early February in preparation for the official showing. Joseph Ramos, theater director and sixth grade history teacher, explained how he prepared his students for the play. “We do blockings and show them how exactly we want them to be on stage,” he said. Tone and emotions are also important to practice before getting into character. By using these techniques, Ramos hopes to ensure the cast feels confident and comfortable whilst on stage.
The process of choosing a play comes from taking into consideration both the community and students, further stating how he used this information to decide on “Alice in Wonderland.”
“I look at how the students will feel about it as well as how the town will accept it,” he said. Ramos also considered this process when choosing other plays as well, such as “Charlotte’s Web” in 2023.
Much of the cast was sixth graders, with the main character Alice portrayed by Genevieve Negrete. Ramos explained when choosing the cast, he purposely chose sixth graders as he felt they were not appreciated as much. Genevieve Negrete, sixth grader and actor of Alice, described the auditioning process of the play. “We read two pages of the script, but for callbacks we met on stage and read a specific scene or page that Ramos told us to,” she said. Negrete struggled remembering lines up until the week before the final show, but with practice and assistance from Ramos, she successfully membered all her lines before the final showing.
Anthony Pisano, seventh grader and White Rabbit actor believes this play made him want to pursue theatre in the long run. Pisano stated, “I definitely think I’m going to continue theater, it was a fun opportunity, and I got to hangout with my friends.”
