Based on works by Lewis Carrol (Charles L. Dodgson)
 Adapted to the stage by Ruth Stanton
 Recollections and photo captions by Bob Bramwell, EA ’61
Thanks to Mark Mueller for saving his copy of the program and making it available for this presentation.

The photos you are about to see were taken by my dad, "Ned" Bramwell, with his trusty Canon SLR Canonflex. They document the November 1960 edition of EA’s annual school play, produced and directed by Mrs. Ruth Stanton. Meaning no disrespect to prior productions, but I cannot imagine any being as ambitious and all-inclusive as “Alice in Wonderland”. First, I recall the script being about 100 mimeographed pages, which came out months before the show.

Next came casting. This production involved dozens and dozens of speaking (and singing, which we will get to) parts and a large cast of characters. It seems to me in retrospect that Mrs. Stanton pretty much allocated us to our parts. I know in my case the criterion was, can the Horse carry you and can you fall off a five foot horse without breaking anything? It was pretty obvious in those days that two guys in a horse outfit could carry me all day, and I said I would do the falls as long as I didn’t have to sing at the same time. Mrs. Stanton did a quick voice audition, listened, and then agreed that I should “declaim” my song Jimmy Durante style rather than sing it.

Costuming, as you will see, was a huge undertaking. I can only speak to mine: White Knight.  There were five essential parts: white leotards with little white puffy pants, the sort you see in pictures of Sir Walter Raleigh that come billowing to mid-thigh; “armor” cut from sheet tin and bent to fit plus figuring out how to make it stay in place; a bunch of stuff like lunch boxes and beehives; a wig of white “hair” that looks suspiciously like cellophane; a helmet of papier-mâché with eye holes sufficiently far apart that I could see out of only one at a time. I think I worked on this, with a great deal of help for a month. I think every actor put in at least that much time and I suspect every family member was involved.

 Webmasters Note: Lynn Rendall, EA '67, who was in the audience for the afternoon performance recalls her mother Isabelle Horne Rendall, EA 1944, designing and sewing many of these wonderful costumes. Mrs. Rendall and Mrs. Stanton were close friends. (See the Special Thanks section below)

For as long as the cast was working on their end of the production, a cadre of backstage folks were designing and constructing what turned out to be fantastic adaptations of the pen and ink drawings from the original books, Alice in Wonderland and its companion Through the Looking-Glass. I have no idea how they kept everything straight behind the backdrop because there were SO many scenes.

Rehearsals probably didn’t take all that long, but of course were after classes and probably kept me out of Menezie’s and off the golf course so it seemed like a long time. We rehearsed scenes for a couple of weeks, then did a couple of run-throughs and had to be ready.

I believe we did two live performances; one in the afternoon for elementary classes and one evening performance. My recollection is that we pulled it off pretty much without a hitch, although with the helmet on I couldn’t hear any cues so when Horse took off on cue it was pretty natural to fall off, which was exactly how I was supposed to enter.

The Story In Brief

Young Alice falls into a dream on a drowsy afternoon.  In this dream she follows White Rabbit into its rabbit hole.  Alice discovers a key, a potion that makes her small and a cake that makes her large. The key gains entry to Wonder Land, where Alice encounters storybook creatures, each of which has a tale to relate. The tales are fantastical, whimsical and sometimes obtuse.  Some of us later might have felt “hallucinogenic” was the term.

After many adventures, Alice is brought to the Court of the King and Queen of Hearts, where all the creatures of the land sit in judgment in a trial of the Knave of Hearts, accused of stealing tarts. While it seems for a moment that Alice herself is in jeopardy, Alice begins to awake and the trial dissolves like the fluttering of a deck of playing cards sprayed into the air.