This summer, University High School Head of School Alicia LaMagdeleine and Theatre Director Callie Hartz will present Alice’s Wonderful Afternoon, a play based on the events in Lewis Carroll’s texts Alice in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass. The cast will be made up entirely of University students.
The University StageBlazers performed Alice in Wonderland on the UHS stage in 2018.
The play will be featured at the 2023 IndyFringe Theatre Festival, a three-week celebration of the arts in downtown Indianapolis. The festival, which includes 285 performances by over 400 performing artists across six stages, will be held on Thursdays through Sundays from August 17 through September 3.
LaMagdeleine originally wrote a longer version of the play that University staged in 2018. This year’s version is a more condensed script to fit the IndyFringe festival format.
The University StageBlazers performed Alice in Wonderland on the UHS stage in 2018.
“In the play, we travel with Alice as she encounters classic characters, like the Mad Hatter, The Cheshire Cat, and Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee,” said LaMagdeleine. “I hope to retain the whimsy and central question of Lewis’s original works: ‘Life: what is it but a dream?’’
This is the second collaboration between LaMagdeleine and Hartz for IndyFringe. Last year, the pair wrote and produced Women’s Work, which was selected for the inaugural run of the Center for Performing Arts’ New Works Project.
Auditions for the play have been completed and the cast is composed entirely of current and incoming University students. See the full cast list below.
- Alice – Nettle Dill
- Narrators – Kayla Rosetti, Lily Rothwell, Aviana Doyle
- Alice’s sister / Jabberwocky – Lauren Langer
- White Rabbit – Xander Odle
- Cheshire Cat – Max Brown
- Caterpillar / Tweedle Dee – Reid Rademacher
- Tweedle Dum – Ben Gleason
- Queen of Hearts – Grace Blake
- King of Hearts – Casey Dahle
- The Duchess – Katy Morcos
- Mad Hatter – Leyton Bennett
- March Hare – Jackson Willett
- Knave of Hearts – Patrick Dennis
- Card – Lincoln Everitt
- Door Mouse – Parker Sharp
Performances are on Thursday, August 31 at 7:15 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 2 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 3 at 1:45 p.m. Check out the IndyFringe website for updates and additional details.