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The play, "The Mad Hatter," is a musical interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” with original music by Brook Packard based on Carroll’s text. Packard, a voice coach and music teacher with a specialty in early childhood music, has done an outstanding job, said director Sarah Moden-Alliston.
The children in the cast, ranging in age from 3 to 12, include Hannes and Lotta Fernqvist; Liam, Jon Luc and Nicholas Robbins; Ari and Tyler Davidson; Anja, Iveriegh and Leto Tarateta; Althea and Jeremy Cisneros, and Amelia Ruckh. They hail from Pound Ridge, South Salem and Darien and have been rehearsing twice a week since January.
“This is actually a theater workshop,” Moden-Alliston said. “All the children who audition are in the show. The kids themselves write the script. It’s a great opportunity to get children involved in the creative process right from the beginning, and then to stay involved."
Parents pitched in to create the sets and the costumes. All of the families contributed, said Moden-Alliston, and “we had an especially creative mom this year -- Anne Fernqvist.”
The “movement” on the stage, which might be considered a young cast’s choreography, was developed by Melissa Middleton. Both she and Packard are paid professionals.
Moden-Alliston is a volunteer who works in Darien as the children’s minister at St. Luke’s Church. But she lives in Pound Ridge, so she chose to develop the workshop in her hometown.
The curtain goes up Friday, April 12, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, April 13, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 per person. Pound Ridge’s Hiram Halle Library is at 271 Westchester Ave., Pound Ridge. For more information or to make a reservation, contact Prkidstheatre@gmail.com.
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