“Alice in Wonderland” becomes Costa’s first outdoor play

By Sofia Williams

News Editor

And Marley Brennan

Staff Writer

Costa’s Drama Department put on “Alice in Wonderland,” Costa’s first-ever outdoor production, on Oct. 14, 15, 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m. 

In the past, the Drama Department was able to utilize the campus’ auditorium for its plays; however, the production has been moved to Mira Costa’s Mustang Mall due to COVID-19 safety precautions. 

“Our show was in the quad around a big spiral we drew with chalk, which acted as the center of our stage. The audience sat  on risers right by the stage on the hall and field side,” said sophomore Luke Fraunces, who played the King of Hearts. 

Since this is the Costa Drama Department’s first time performing a play outdoors, changes had to be made to accommodate the new setting. Chalk was used to draw in the center stage, and the audience was seated in a designated section for the majority of the play.

“An outdoor show was a completely new experience for the cast, crew, and production team. Although it was challenging to work around the weather on set every night, it has never been done before by Costa, and that is what made it so exciting and unique,” said Ava Ford, who played the White Rabbit.

According to Ford, performing with masks compromises the integrity of the performance. If the cast were to perform unmasked, COVID-19 safety regulations required the Drama Department to move the production outdoors. Additionally, the play’s staging had to be adjusted to allow performers to socially distance. 

“If we were to perform inside, we’d have been wearing masks, and that takes away an element of performance,” said Ford.

The opening scene of the play is interactive; the audience stood at the front of the school and the cast of the show led them to their seats. After about five minutes, the audience was brought to the quad and remained in their seats for the rest of the show. 

“There was one scene at the start of the production that was by the administration building, and then the audience along with the cast went through the rabbit hole to the main stage, where they took their seats,” said Fraunces. 

There were about 15 to 25 people in the cast, according to Fraunces, but not everyone was on stage at once. To add variety to the performance, the drama team circulated characters on and off of the stage. The new outdoor venue was able to seat approximately 170 people in the audience per show. 

“There is Alice (who was in the entire show), and then, scene by scene, the audience met a new character. When you were not playing your character, you were ensemble,” said Fraunces.

This play isn’t exactly identical to its cinematic inspiration. The team chose to incorporate some well-known lines, but opted to cut lines that were not pertinent to the premise of the play. This made the show more personalized and allowed for the introduction of new characters and lines. 

“We did not incorporate a lot of scenes from the movie in this show. This production includes a lot of characters that aren’t featured in the movie but, of course, we have the classic ones. There are also some classic movie lines we sprinkled in throughout the show, such as the Caterpillar’s ‘Who are you?’ and the White Rabbit’s ‘I’m Late,’” said Ford.

All four performances of the show sold out before the first showing on Oct. 14.

“It was such an amazing opportunity    to play Alice! She is such a unique and fun character. I was definitely nervous, but being back [to performing] in person felt like home again,” said Gigi Panzarella, who played Alice. “Performing is so special to me, and I’m so grateful to be back on stage.”

Because the show was held outside at night, the lighting had to be manufactured rather than natural and could only be adjusted when it was dark outside. There were eight light poles made in total to illuminate the outdoor stage.

“We spent at least a month figuring out how to have enough power in the quad. We tapped in from an electrical box in a room from the library and built light trees, which are huge poles with light fixtures attached to the tops,” said Jonathan Westerberg, Costa’s Drama director.

The show was designed to be packed up quickly, drawing inspiration from a pop-up theater troupe. Because the show had to be easily portable, the cast carried in all sets and costumes and packed them up at the end of the show as an integrated portion of their performance. 

“We designed [the show] almost as a pop-tent carnival,” said Westerberg. “Everything comes out of trunks and crates, and it almost looks like the cast could be putting on a show in the middle of a field.”

While the play was based on the book of the same title by Lewis Carroll, Mira Costa Drama’s production of “Alice in Wonderland” used a shorter script by Jason Pizzarello. According to Westerberg, having a shorter script allowed the cast to bring a greater level of attention to detail to the play.

“The script that we worked with had a unique take on “Alice in Wonderland” and included some inventive characters, but most of the source material was pulled from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland,” said Westerberg.

The play was performed in an outdoor theater built by Cary Jordahl, Mira Costa’s Theater Tech director. The audience seating was made from several platforms elevated by a legging system.

“A lot of our time and energy went into using time and resources and person power to build a theater outside, which definitely takes away from the time spent in the rehearsal process,” said Westerberg. “We also had to open a lot earlier because we had to consider all the other school events vying for the outdoor space”

Despite the challenges the Mira Costa Drama Department faced in bringing the production to reality, the accomplishment of being the first outdoor  performance of its kind and how well the play turned out made it worthwhile, according to Westerberg.

“It took a tremendous effort to do this, but I truly believe we were all thrilled with how hard everyone worked and how the performance turned out so well,” said Westerberg.