‘Alice in Wonderland’ at Davis High School

By COLLEEN FONTANA
DAVIS HIGH SCHOOL

It’s 3:45 p.m.
Teenagers sit haphazardly around the Davis High School auditorium. Scattered about are splashes of color and slivers of pattern, glimpses of costumes forming slowly among the cast.
Attentive to director Shannon Ruiz, the players — recognizing the importance of these comments — listen as advice is given.
“Don’t ever drop character,” they hear as they move to their positions for Act 1.
One more thing: “And no cell phones during rehearsal!”
With opening night just around the corner, students in the cast and crew of the Davis High School production of “Alice in Wonderland” were steadily perfecting their characters and polishing scene changes in order to produce a quality production. And they are confident in their ability to do just that.
“Not only have we been working hard,” says 16-year-old junior Boston Peltier, “but we’ve been doing a fantastic job.”
Players have been rehearsing since early October. Earlier this month, sets still needed to be finished and lines needed to be perfected.
Their work culminated with opening night Thursday and continues through the two-week run of the production.
“‘Alice in Wonderland’ is a show that can and should be an experience for people of all ages,” Ruiz says.
Briana Tamaki plays the part of the Cheshire Cat. It’s the first time she’s been in such a prominent role, but she’s surrounded by a supportive cast and says she feels confident.
“It’s the most nonsensical play that there has ever been, and it is not the standard, normal plot, so it’s unique in that sense,” says the 17-year-old senior.
“There are a lot of goofy characters that will make you laugh because they don’t make sense, and characters that will make you laugh because they do make sense,” says 18-year-old senior Alex Cottle, who plays Alice.
Senior Whitney Ketcham, 17, plays the Queen of Hearts, whose slightly deranged character says — or attempts to say — “Off with their heads!” a total of 17 times throughout the play.
Ketcham was eager to play such a role.
“I like playing characters that are over the top because I like being dramatic,” she says.
Jenny Gonzalez, a 16-year-old junior, likes being dramatic, too. But her job isn’t on stage. In her third-year American Sign Language class, the students were presented with the opportunity to sign the play to earn extra points. It was an opportunity Gonzalez didn’t want to pass up.
“I volunteered to participate in the theatrical side of Davis,” she says, adding she thinks it’s important to expose audience members to American Sign Language.
Sixteen-year-old Nichole Lounsbury, assistant backstage manager, is in charge of making sure everyone is where they need to be with what they need when they need it. Although she is backstage during the show, she expects the view from the audience will be spectacular.
“When (the curtain) comes up and all the colors appear, people are going to love it,” she says.
“It is a classic. Everyone loves a classic.”

• Colleen Fontana is a senior at Davis High School and a member of Unleashed, the Yakima Herald-Republic’s journalism program for teenagers.

IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Alice in Wonderland.”
WHERE: Davis High School Auditorium, 212 S. Sixth Ave., Yakima.
WHEN: 7 p.m. today; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday; 7 p.m. Nov. 19-20; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Nov. 21.
HOW MUCH: $5 for children and students; $8 for adults.