Drama Students at North High Bring Alice in Wonderland to the Stage
North drama students do a matinee performance of Alice in Wonderland for Oak Park Elementary students.
Third graders at Oak Park Elementary School took a field trip yesterday – to Wonderland! Little did they know it was only a five minute bus ride south of their classrooms on Sixth Avenue in The Woodchuck, the black box classroom/theatre at North High School.
Mark Rixner’s advanced drama students, under the direction of student teacher Michael Williams, are staging an adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic farce Alice in Wonderland throughout this week, including two more matinees scheduled for the benefit of elementary audiences from Findley Elementary and Cattell Elementary. Evening performances open to the general public will be offered tonight and Thursday night at 7:00 P.M. Admission is free but donations will be collected to benefit the North drama department.
Part of the method in Rixner’s theatrical madness is to plant the seeds of future Polar Bear thespians at an early age. Invitational showings for schools that feed into North are an effective means of hooking kids on the magic of showbiz if Monday’s matinee was any indication. Findley already has its own drama club and Rixner would like to see counterparts to it established at the other schools.
The show opens with the cast roaming through the audience in search of Alice. The Oak Parkers immediately felt like they were part of the show. When it ended and they had an opportunity for a brief Q&A with the cast and crew, virtually every one of them had hands in the air; an ovation of a different sort when you think about it. One boy in particular was fascinated by the hat worn by Oak Park alum Forrest Mathison who plays The Hatter. It stuck out like the smokestack on a locomotive.
Rixner has been at North for nine years after seven at Goodrell Middle School, and he is building a rich tradition there. T-shirts, posters and photographs from past productions including The Wizard of Oz, A Christmas Story and The Sound of Music adorn the walls of The Woodchuck. They didn’t go unnoticed by yesterday’s patrons of the arts. Later this semester North drama will bring the musical Sweeney Todd to the main stage in the school’s auditorium.
Only one question went unanswered during the post-show “green room” session, one posed during the absolutely mad, but fun, tea party by The Hatter. Just how are a thistle and a thermometer alike?
Go see the show tonight or Thursday and maybe you can ask him for yourself.
