'Alice in Wonderland' opens Wednesday
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 1 month AGO
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Alice (Karlye Shank, left) is stuck at the worst tea party ever, thanks to the Mad Hatter (Kamden Kuykendall, center) and the Dormouse (Amanda Miller. The Moses Lake High School production of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ opens Wednesday.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald The March Hare (Lawrence Thompson, left) an the Dormouse (Amanda Miller) listen attentively during the trial of the Knave of Hearts. The Moses Lake High School production of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ opens Wednesday.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald The Queen of Hearts (Rachel Law) gets ready to play through during the croquet game in the Moses Lake High School production of ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ opening Wednesday. The knave of hearts (Chris Marroquin) may lose his head.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | February 5, 2018 2:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — The tale of the adventures of a girl in wonderland opens at the Moses Lake High School theater Wednesday. The MLHS production of “Alice in Wonderland” will run Wednesday through Saturday starting at 7 p.m. each night.
The play actually combines the story of “Alice in Wonderland and “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” said director Stevena House. Alice (Karlye Shank in the MLHS production) follows a talking White Rabbit (Olivia Marsh) and ends up falling into a surreal, magical kingdom populated by surreal creatures. She’s invited to tea by a crazy hat maker (Kamden Kuykendall), an equally crazy March Hare (Lawrence Thompson) and a very sleepy Dormouse (Amanda Miller).
Alice runs into a pack of live playing cards, with a very mean queen (Rachel Law), and walks through a mirror to meet a pair of surreal twins named Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Zachary Zeller and Wilem Kersey) as well as a white knight (Trevor Fuller), among other creatures.
With all the fantasy characters, the stage crew – which consisted mostly of students – faced a big task, House said. “It’s a very technical-intensive play. There’s a lot of stage magic that needs to happen.”
And they came through, under the direction of technical director D. Jay Kendall. “It’s completely student-run this time,” Kendall said. Parent volunteers built the elaborate rotating set, but the students did most of the painting, and they have done almost all the work on the costumes, props and lighting, Kendall said. “He tells the kids what they need to do and the kids figure it out,” House said.
The cast features some brand-new actors, including the understudy for the role of Alice, Virginia Kincaid, who’s a freshman. There are also some kids who are longtime drama club members, but whose role in the production has been behind the scenes. “They were always behind the curtain, and now they’re stepping out from behind the curtain,” House said.
Drama club advisor Sabrina Haesche is the assistant director.
Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 for senior citizens and children younger than age 6. High school students pay $8 with an ASB card. Tickets are available online at the On The Stage website; www.our.show/mlhsalice will take the user to the main page for the production.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Road closures, roundabout, mean construction season underway
EPHRATA — The grass is starting to turn green, the trees are starting to leaf out, construction crews are starting to build roundabouts – hey, it’s spring. At least one roundabout project is in its final phase, held over from fall 2025. The intersection of State Route 282 and Nat Washington Way will be closed the week of April 6 to allow crews to install permanent lights. “This really is the final (closure),” wrote Grant County Administrator Tom Gaines in a media release. “The roundabout will close at 6 a.m. Monday, and we plan to reopen by Friday, possibly sooner if the work finishes early.”
Ybarra announces run for Washington Senate
QUINCY — State Representative Alex Ybarra, R-Quincy, has announced his candidacy for the Washington Senate. If he’s elected, he would replace Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, who announced her retirement in March.
Othello Community Museum to open April 25
OTHELLO — With a couple of new exhibits, a new heating-cooling system, rearranged displays and a thorough cleaning, the Othello Community Museum will open for the summer April 25. The goal, said Molly Popchock, museum board secretary, is to operate for a full season.