Playscript

ALICE: CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER!

This original adaptation based on Lewis Carroll's works is distinctive in several ways.

LARGE CAST

Designed for ambitious schools and youth theaters, this version is written for a cast of at least 20 actors, of varied levels of experience, with 5 girls playing Alice. There are other female leads, plus many roles that are not gender specific.

JOURNEY THEMATICS

Alice is one of the very few journey narratives with a girl hero in all the children's classics, and this one does not require her to learn 'There's no place like home!' In keeping with the 'journey' nature of the story, Act 2 of this version is a traveling environmental experience. The audience is escorted out of the theater in 4 groups. Each group sees 6 short scenes in a varied locations plus getting a bathroom break; the scenes take place in a different order for each group. All groups are called back to the theater for Act 3, which begins with the 5 Alices singing the quintet "5 = 1, or Alice's Identity."

HISTORICAL FRAMING

To provide additional complexity for adult audiences, the story is framed by Lewis Carroll's relationship with the historical Alice Liddell; he was an Oxford Don and she was the daughter of a Dean. He first spun the story out for her while punting on a July afternoon and only wrote it down later. ALICE: CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER! includes a duet between Carroll and Mrs. Liddell, Alice's mother, who had concerns about the relationship; that duet is titled "Gazing at Alice" and contrasts maternal gaze with male gaze.

MUSIC

Scored for piano, two violins, and a flute, an original cast demo recording (all amateur teenage cast) is available upon request. There are 8 songs.

If you are curious.....please contact Karen Bovard for additional information!