“Alice in Wonderland” opens PSU Theatre season

Students with the Pittsburg State University Theatre normally live immersed in homework and tests, but their upcoming show is sure to submerge both them and their audience in the delightful world of fantasy.

The PSU Theatre will present Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 18-20. The show will begin at 8 p.m. each evening at Pittsburg Memorial Hall. The first show of the season, Director Cynthia Allan says designers have put a twist on the traditional fairy tale to tell the story through the eyes of artist Vincent Van Gogh.

“This show is very bright, very visual,” said Allan, who is working with a large crew of actors, technicians, designers, and Memorial Hall staffers for this season’s biggest show. “We’ve used a lot of bold strokes and twisted landscapes to tell the story. It is as large and professional a show in terms of technique and scope as many other professional productions.”

Allan says the designers have created everything from the set to the costumes with an Impressionistic style. Each teacup in the Mad Hatter scene, for example, has been painted to look like Van Gogh paintings, and many of the characters are made up with facial prosthetics and airbrushing. The show also features a 10-foot caterpillar, a Dodo bird, the colorful Queen of Hearts, and all the other animals and characters in the nonsensical world Alice encounters after she falls down the rabbit hole.

“This is the largest fantasy show we’ve ever done, and the technical skills above all are the focus. This is a critical laboratory experience students need to be trained in their discipline,” said Allan. “It’s been an act of total commitment from the cast and community to pull this off.”

In addition to the evening showings, the cast and crew will put on a matinee show for 1,300 Pittsburg schoolchildren on Friday, Oct. 19. For tickets to the evening performances, contact the PSU Ticket Office at 620-235-4796 or go to
http://www.pittstate.edu/union/tickets/.

Other show scheduled for the 2007-2008 season include:

One-Act Plays – Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2007. Short plays produced by students in the Comm 544 Stage Direction class. Presented at the PSU Studio Theatre. Curtain time is 7 p.m. Free admission.

“Marisol” – March 6-9, 2008. An apocalyptic urban fantasy about the war in heaven when the angels revolt. This 1993 Obie Award-winning play by Jose Rivera urges society to “wake up” in fearsome and poetic ways. Directed by Gil Cooper. Presented at the PSU Studio Theatre. Curtain time is 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. For mature audiences.

“Fuddy Meers” – May 1-4, 2008. A dark and thoroughly original comedy that warps the language of self-help books, this play is sure to be “wicked fun.” Written by David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by Megan Westhoff. Presented at the PSU Studio Theatre. Curtain time is 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

---Pitt State---