UW Theatre and Dance Presents ‘Wonderland’ Nov. 12-17
November 4, 2019
The University of Wyoming Department of Theatre and Dance will present a vertical dance retelling of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass.”
“Wonderland: Alice’s Adventures in Three-Dimensional Space” will run Tuesday, Nov. 12, through Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 17, at 2 p.m. in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts Thrust Theatre.
Tickets cost $14 for the public, $11 for senior citizens and $7 for students. Tickets are available at the Performing Arts box office and the Wyoming Union information desk, by calling (307) 766-6666 or going online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.
The dance features a multimedia experience and dancers, actors and singers who chart Alice’s journey to understand who she is and where she fits in with her family and the world.
UW Department of Theatre and Dance Professor Margaret Wilson and UW Department of Geology and Geophysics Professor Neil Humphrey, who instituted the vertical dance program at UW and choreograph and rig all vertical dance performances, were scheduled for a full production in fall 2019.
They wanted to produce a concert in the Thrust Theatre, an innovative space for vertical dance. Scenic designer Scott Tedmon-Jones suggested “Alice in Wonderland” as a possible project. Also joining the project were composer and lyricist Sean Warren Stone; lighting and projection designer Jason Banks; and dramaturg Patrick Konesko.
Wilson, who directs and choreographs the project, says “Wonderland” is a “celebration of everything we do in live performance.”
“This production combines original movement, music, sets, projections and costumes, and well-loved books for children and adults alike in a live theatrical performance,” she adds. “We are working to create a world of chaos and confusion, of Alice seeking -- and finding -- identity and agency, while we contribute to the eternal question, ‘Whose dream was it anyway?’”
Building on one another’s input and expertise, while exploring new technologies, has allowed the team members expanded opportunities for creative growth.
“As an exciting new collaboration, we are working with the Shell 3D Visualization Center in the UW School of Energy Resources on campus to develop the opportunity for patrons to experience the world of Wonderland through virtual reality headsets before the performance and during the intermission,” Wilson says.
Kyle Summerfield, an assistant research scientist in the School of Energy Resources, has developed the immersive experience, directed by Emma-Jane Alexander, manager of the center.
“The performance will have a little something for everyone, from becoming part of an immersive environment created by both technology and performers to reconnecting with a well-known story in a novel way to hearing original new music and ‘Jabberwocky’ translated,” Wilson says. “Come see how it all comes together.”
For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirisk@uwyo.edu.
