Alice and Fido in the park

Adaptations should be crowd-pleaser as Project X begins 10th season of outdoor theatre

/By MIKE YOUDS

/ Audiences in Prince Charles Park are headed down the rabbit hole with Alice and her wild cast of characters for the next few weeks as XFest brings home a made-in-B.C. adaptation of Lewis Carrol’s classic.

At a castle nestled under the trees, they’ll also encounter the last of the dragons, a female named Fido. And they’ll find it easier to appreciate the show with the installation of temporary bleachers (don’t forget the pillows, though).

For its summer theatre season, Project X has reached back into the Victorian library of children’s tales with Alice in Wonderland and The Last of the Dragons. No dusting was needed for these two productions, though. This Alice is a freshly minted adaptation.

B.C. playwright Mike Griffin was commissioned by P.E.I’s Watermark Theatre to produce the work and premiered it there last summer, where it was keenly received by audiences and critics alike.

“He was very truthful to the original, which I liked,” said Melissa Thomas, who met Griffin at grad school and directs this show. A key challenge, of course, is bringing back to life the outlandish creatures of Alice’s fertile imagination — Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts and the like — creatures so familiar that they reside in the popular imagination as well.

This show won’t have the projections used by Griffin, but it has other ways of conjuring the magic with costumes by Marian Truscott and Susan Dixon and puppets by Randi Edmundson. Truscott is the best-known costume maker in town and the secret behind the success of many Western Canada Theatre shows.

Edmundson, a young actor who was part of The Rivertown Players troupe several summers back, studied puppet-making at the Banff Centre. Last of the Dragons, based on a 1925 short story by Edith Nesbit, was adapted for children by Kristen Walter a decade ago.

Nesbit wrote more than 60 books for children, yet she was also a political activist and her works bear underlying themes that reflect that influence. Dragons is a contradictory tale in which traditional stereotypes are turned upside down: A prince is too afraid to fight, the dragon can’t be found and the princess prefers to rescue herself.

The two plays run in repertory from July 23-Aug. 9. Tickets can be purchased from Kamloops Live! Box Office. Once again, there’s a blended cast of professional and nonprofessional players to bring these worlds to life.

“Project X has a long history of working with emerging artists in the community and we are absolutely continuing that.”

Alice is played by Kassidy Schaper-Kotter, an 11-year-old Vernon actor who proved phenomenal last summer as the youngest of the foxes in The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

“It’s a challenge because I knew it was a lot of lines and a lot of scenes,” said Kassidy, who’s had other roles in kids’ productions at the Hub Arts Collective. “I’m on stage all the time.”

It has to be a challenge for her family as well, since they’re commuting on a daily basis.

Andrew Cooper and Kelsey Gilker are back as White Rabbit and Edith/Dodo/Duchess respectively. Dusan Magdolen plays the Caterpillar and March among other roles. Stefano Giulianetti, a hit in the Compleat Wrks of Willm Shkspr (Abridged), is also back.

Last of the Dragons. Ella Simon plays the Princess. Edmundson becomes the dragon. TRU’s Christopher Seguin is King. Heather Cant, who along with Thomas, stepped in as co-artistic director this spring, directs.

“I never expected to be at the helm,” said Thomas, who was part of the cast of the original outdoor production of Two Gentleman of Verona in Riverside Park in 2004.

Summer since then have entertained Kamloops with a steady succession of stage productions in Prince Charles Park, from Shakespeare to Tennessee Williams to James and the Giant Peach. Audiences flocked to the latter, telling the young company that all-ages, family-style shows go over best.

“People were clamouring for James,” looking for more midsummer family activities, Thomas said. “We’ve expanded into the family market, which the community has really gotten behind.”

Another adjustment for the company has been the departure of Derek Rein, who founded the company with Samantha MacDonald. MacDonald left in 2010 to become artistic director with Theatre Northwest in Prince George. Rein left after a job promotion earlier this year.

“The transition happened really late (in the season). Heather and I didn’t officially come aboard until March 1.”

They plan to get a head start on next year’s show, starting in September.

There are a few 3:30 p.m. presentations of both productions, but most shows begin at 7:30 p.m. Shows on Mondays offer a two-for-one discount and the Aug. 3 show is pay-what-you-can admission. For schedule details, see http://www.projectxtheatre.ca.