The story of Alice in Wonderland is celebrating its 150th “un-birthday” this year. To honor this anniversary, VIVA Theater/Society for Creative Aging and its all-inclusive intergenerational cast ranging in age from 9 to 92, in partnership with the Boulder International Fringe Festival, presents four performances of “Alice in Wonderland – A Live Radio Play” at Boulder’s Nomad Playhouse. KGNU 88.5 radio records one of the performances and broadcast it sometime during the 2015 holiday season.
The Columbia Workshop radio script was first produced in two parts on September 26 and October 3, 1937. The production includes live sound and musical effects to accompany the characters’ actions and dialog. In addition to some very creative scene change music, accompanist Chuck Arnold is charged with performing musical cues such as “Hippity Hop” and “Scurrying Mouse.” The script wishes accompanists, “Good luck with this one!”
While not necessarily playing with a full deck, the play does include the King, Queen and Knave of Hearts; as well as an assortment of anthropomorphic creatures including a chronically late White Rabbit, a narcoleptic Dormouse, and a hookah-smoking Caterpillar. With a presidential election on the horizon, the audience is urged to pay particular attention to the Caucus Race, a nonsensical satire of the electoral process where participants must run in circles until an arbitrary end is called and everyone is declared a winner.
Director Cynthia Ward is a Naropa University MFA theatre program graduate and a founding member, producer and actor in the Band of Toughs: A Theater Collaboratory. Ward says, “In this live radio play version of the story, I’m enjoying finding creative ways to tell the story primarily through sound. The piano becomes a painter of the story, and there’s delight in weaving in familiar melodies. I’m looking forward to playing with live sound effects – what fun!”
At the Nomad Playhouse, 1410 Quince Avenue, Boulder. Evening performances are 7:00 p.m. Saturday, November 28, and Friday, December 4. Matinees are 2:00 p.m. Sunday, November 29, and Saturday, December 5. Tickets are $12 for seniors and students, $15 general admission and are available at brownpapertickets.com/event/2253651.
For more information visit s4creativeaging.org.