When offering guidance to others, sometimes the teacher learns a thing or two as well.
That’s what happens to Alice when she enters “Looking Glass Land,” a stage adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic “Through the Looking Glass.” The play runs March 4-12 on the Youth Stage at Steel Beam Theatre in St. Charles. Performances are at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturdays and at 1 p.m. Sundays.
The play, Director Cordaro Johnson said, is essentially a spin on the beloved characters from “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass.”
“(Alice) basically ends up in this world, and she comes upon a lot of mythical creatures,” Johnson said. “And her goal is to become queen. And so on her way to becoming queen, she meets a lot of cool people that want to help her… except for the Evil Red Queen, who’s trying to stop her.”
The story, he said, is “filled with a lot of cool characters,” some of which are familiar, such as the kings and queens.
“But there’s a little twist on some of the other characters like the Mad Hatter is just ‘Hatta’ in this show,” Johnson said. “We have some flowers that she meets along the way, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. We have some red knights and white knights that try to help her. She meets Humpty Dumpty. She just meets a lot of different people along the way that live in Looking Glass Land.”
Perhaps some of the more unusual acquaintances Alice makes include a baseball team, a Gospel group called “The Replacements,” a peanut salesman and Miss America.
“Along this journey she helps lots of people become more confident in themselves, and as queen she becomes more confident in herself,” Johnson said. “She just realizes that she can really do anything she sets her mind to.”
The play runs about an hour and 10 minutes, with an intermission. It features a cast of 27 students from throughout the area.
“This is actually the biggest cast Steel Beam has had for their youth ensemble performances,” Johnson said.
The show, he said, calls for a big ensemble.
“I did have to double a couple of roles,” he said. “But I really wanted a large cast. And everyone came out. It was very unexpected.”
With so many different characters, more students have a chance to show off their acting skills, he said.
“This is not a show where one person has all the lines. Alice definitely has more lines than anyone, but there’s room for every one to be able act and speak and perform,” Johnson said. “That’s really what I wanted to show and give everybody an opportunity.”
While the show is a straight play, the cast has added some musical elements, he said.
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“There is some singing in the show, but it’s not a full-on musical production,” Johnson said. “I had some really great kids that auditioned with great vocal abilities, so it was the perfect time to express that.”
This is the first production Johnson is directing at Steel Beam. Acting since he was 5, the now 30-year-old Park Forest resident has served as assistant director for various productions as well as an acting coach throughout the suburban Chicago area and Indiana. He was recently cast in the “The Secret Garden,” which will be staged by The Drama Group in Chicago Heights in April.
While a few characters wear the traditional costumes audiences might expect, others are dressed in a more whimsical manner.
“The costumes are very cool and interesting. The Hatta character, he’s dressed like a cowboy,” Johnson said. “The only characters that are traditional are kings and queens and Alice. Everyone else we have the liberties to do whatever we want with their costumes. Just to make them more modern, because this is a show you can modernize if you would like.”
That allows the students to express their creativity and offer different ideas for their characters, he said.
“I was really blessed to have a talented group of kids,” Johnson said. “Very few of them have never been on stage before, so it was very easy. They make suggestions, ‘Can I do this?’ It was pretty easy with this cast.”
The show, he said, is appropriate for all ages. With the dialogue and comedic timing of the cast, the audience will have a fun time and laugh, he said.
“I’m just excited for everyone to see it. They’ve worked really hard,” Johnson said of the cast. “It’s going to be really good show and it’s really funny. I’m just excited for them to shine on stage.”
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.
‘Looking Glass Land’
When: March 4-12
Where: Steel Beam Theatre, 111 W. Main St., St. Charles
Tickets: $15 Adult; $10 Youth
Information: 630-587-8521 or www.steelbeamtheatre.com