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HomeNewsDown the Rabbit Hole: The Making of OakTech Rep's Alice in Wonderland

Down the Rabbit Hole: The Making of OakTech Rep’s Alice in Wonderland

From November 16-19th, OakTech Rep will present five vibrant and spectacular performances of the classic tale Alice In Wonderland at the Oakland Tech auditorium. The show will feature an exceptionally talented cast of Oakland Tech students who have been hard at work for the past two months memorizing lines and bringing their characters to life. The Oakland Tech Techies have also been working hard planning and building the set, making costumes, and preparing lights and sounds. As assistant director, I have been able to witness all of the actor’s growth and all the theatrical elements come together to create the magical and enchanting world of Wonderland. Before you witness the wonders of Wonderland for yourself, let’s take a dive down into the rabbit hole and explore the journey so far with this colorful cast and crew.

Ms. Egan is a wonderful and amazing drama teacher here at Oakland Tech who is the director of Alice In Wonderland. “There are a lot of reasons why I feel that Alice In Wonderland is well suited for the OakTech Rep community,” Ms. Egan said. She continues on to say that “One [reason] is that it has a lot of really vibrant, funny, and creative parts that will allow for actors to express their singing, dancing, and comedy dramatic skills. It also was going to be a big wonderful challenge for our tech crew, and after Clue, I knew they could accomplish anything. I love Alice In Wonderland as a play because it deals with childhood and adolescence and the way that we ask young people to step into the real world. So the fact that Alice is so befuddled and confused by this wild, crazy world is symbolic of what I think every young person goes through.”

Harper Carlson is the creative music director and is arranging, transposing, and writing some songs and music that will be featured in the play. “I’ve always enjoyed listening to scores and music for plays and television so to be able to write songs and music it’s a great challenging but rewarding experience,” says Harper. Lindsey Hoang is an incredible media director who is documenting the behind-the-scenes. “It’s been cool to document the process and get spectacular shots of everyone performing, it just feels very wholesome and amazing,” Lindsey said.

Maddie Stein and Avery Kaleta are the stage managers, who help connect the world of actors with the technical aspects of the production. “I’m excited to be in the booth and to get to experience a different type of show this year, getting to work with the lighting and the sound and commanding the show,” Maddie said. “I’m enjoying this year with the relationships I’m building with the actors and I’m excited about the amazing set,” says Avery.

The incredible cast features 25 extremely talented actors, and Aviva Powers (Alice), Oliver Ciolfi (Humpty Dumpty), and Jordan Jerrels (Queen of Hearts) all discuss what the rehearsal process has been like and share some love with the cast. Aviva plays one of the two Alices in the show and says, “the community of actors are just very accepting and once I met the other Alice, Savanna, it was also cool to see her interpretation of Alice”. Oliver plays Humpty Dumpty and reflects on his experience, saying that “I’m just learning a lot from being part of this and it’s a real interpretation of what it’s going to be like if I want to pursue acting”. Jordan plays the infamous Queen of Hearts and states “I love the Queen of Hearts so far since I get to act like a complete jerk and I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would”.

Oakland Tech also has an incredible Techies program, which builds the set and is in charge of costumes and all the technical elements during the performances. I had the pleasure of talking to Evaline, Caleb, and Ayaan about their experience and plans for the set which will feature rolling houses, a large-scale Queen of Hearts castle, and false proscenium staging. “It’s nice to see you put in all this hard work and it just comes together”, says Evaline. 

Alice In Wonderland opens November 16! 

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