Excitement is building as the Academy community awaits the Bayshore Players Spring musical Alice in Wonderland Jr.   The Brady Center will be the setting for performances on Friday, February 24, and Saturday, February 25, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, February 26 at 3:00 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.

Performers range in grade level from sixth grader Rachel Saunders to seniors Jennifer Compton, Fromie Gonzalez, Brittany Jordan, Cavesha Anderson, Charmaine Bondoc, and Bridget Daly. Despite age gaps, the performers have become a close-knit functional stage family, each supporting the other with help and support.

Stage crew and performers have been training and rehearsing since returning from winter break in January.  The inside scoop is that the sets are “quite out of this world,” with  dazzling backdrops and props. Costumes will contribute to the magical experience that every audience member should feel while viewing the play.

Sets that include  life-sized flowers and running water  will add to the stage effects of  Alice eating magical cookies and imbibing weird drinks.  As the story goes,  Alice shrinks and grows to fit in Wonderland, realizing Wonderland is not what she expected it to be.

From the many characters Lewis Carroll has produced,  many say the Mad Hatter, played by sophomore Daryl Sutphin,  and the Queen of Hearts, played by senior Jenn Compton, are by far the most complex and insanely over the top chatterboxes for this play. With that in mind, actors portraying these wild and wacky characters must step out of reality and into the realm of Lewis Carroll.