‘Through the Looking-Glass’
Sequim High School Senior Class Play
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, Feb. 27-28; 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, March 1-2
Where: Sequim High School Auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave.
Tickets: $12 general admission, $10 for students with ASB card; cash only at door
Proceeds benefit Class of 2019’s graduation and senior ball
Even Sequim’s snow won’t keep Alice from going “Through the Looking-Glass.”
The Sequim High School Senior Class Play runs one week only at 6 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, Feb. 27-28, and 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, March 1-2, at the Sequim High School Auditorium, 533 N. Sequim Ave.
See more photos from the show here.
Weather delays kept students from coming in to practice but even Alice herself — 14-year-old Kariya Johnson — says she feels optimistic about the show.
“We had to miss a whole week of rehearsal and that really put some stress on our schedule,” she says.
“Everyone is a little stressed but it’s ‘go time’ and I think it’s going to go well.”
“Through the Looking-Glass” brings Alice on a quest to become queen in a world where everything is reversed and filled with odd characters.
Director Ashley Kramer adapted Lewis Carroll’s book partly because it’s in the public domain and can earn more funds for the class of 2019’s graduation and senior ball, and for its humor and large cast.
“I love that it’s absurd and silly,” Kramer said.
“It’s not so well-known and many versions borrow from it for ‘Alice in Wonderland.’”
Kramer says Alice’s path to becoming queen is in some ways representative of growing up.
Johnson said she read both of Carroll’s Alice books growing up and likes Kramer’s translation.
“I love how (Kramer) kept Alice’s humor and personality because she’s naïve but kind of sassy — just a little bit,” Johnson says.
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, or rather Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee played by Ian Parker and Sean Weber ready to present Alice the tale of “The Walrus and the Carpenter.” “Through the Looking-Glass” is the friends’ first time acting in a school play, they said. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
Students bring an array of wild characters to life, such as the battling Lion and Unicorn (Lauren Titterness and Matthew Fowler), the Red and White Queens (Maggie van Dyken and Emily Bundy), Humpty Dumpty (Payton Sturm), and many, many more.
“The cast really brings the characters to life in a really good way,” Johnson says. “They each have their own story within the whole big picture. It’s interesting to see how those characters interact.”
Familiar characters like Tweedledee and Tweedledum are played by Ian Parker and Sean Weber — long-time friends, seniors and first time actors.
Parker says it was Weber’s idea to try out and the friends said they’ve gone to most of the senior plays before and wanted to support their senior class.
Ben Wright, a junior who plays the Red Knight, says he feels his first play is coming together really well.
Before he auditioned, he was under the impression it was based on Disney’s “Alice through the Looking Glass.”
“I really feel like I’m stepping out of my comfort zone,” Wright says. “It’s the first play I’ve done but it’s really feeling like it’s becoming a family here.”
“Through the Looking-Glass” features two songs and culminates in what many actors feel is their favorite scene at a banquet where most of the characters gather together.
Tickets cost $12 for general admission and $10 for students with an ASB card at the door with cash only. Proceeds benefit the Class of 2019’s senior ball and graduation.
The show’s cast and crew also features: Damien Cundiff, Damon Little, Kenzie Camp, Madisyn Pulley, Angeli Chandler, Annika Christensen, Elaine Brown, Coral Disinski, Allison Van De Wege, Eislynn Flood, Karina Thiemke, Khelea Cloetens, Bella Lemos Platero, Raymond Lam, Arlene Law, Cadence Puhrmann, Liam Payne, Gabi Simonson, Lindsey Coffman, Alicia Pairadee, Charlie Briggs, Sofia Baruffi, Isabelle Hugoniot, Caleb DeMott, Braden Koch, Cas Morton, Elisa Hieber, Lily Richey, Susan Andersen, Wren Fierro-Burdick, Enya Griffin and Jonathan Heintz.
For more information, contact Sequim High School, 601 N. Sequim Ave., at 360-582-3600.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
The Sun (Khelea Cloetens, Arlene Law and Annika Christensen) and the Moon (Allison Van De Wege) hold a dance-off in “Through the Looking-Glass” that runs Feb. 27-March 2 at Sequim High School. Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
