‘Is Alice in you?’: Teens reimagine ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in ‘genre-bending’ show next weekend in Northampton

Lewis Carol’s story of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is more than 150 years old, but a group of local teen performers is reimagining it with a modern twist.

The Hatchery Young Artist Project, part of The School for Contemporary Dance & Thought in Northampton, will perform an original two-hour production, “Wonderland: An Experimental Rendition of Alice in Wonderland” at The Workroom Theater at 33 Hawley on Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14, at 6 p.m., and Sunday, June 15, at 2 p.m.

The “vibrant, genre-bending” show, which incorporates live original music, contemporary dance, visual art, and spoken word, allows its cast of more than 30 young performers to “explore the wonders of childhood, the paradoxical nature of life, and the nonsensical flow that informs our imagination and our lives,” according to a press release.

“This production is a powerful reminder of what happens when young people are given the space, tools, and mentorship to make bold, expressive art for their communities,” the release said.

The show takes the basic “Alice” story of a daydreaming girl and expands on its surrealist themes, including the question, “What happens when Alice wakes up from her dream?”

In fact, Jen Polins, the founding director of SCDT, said, “There’s not one Alice. Everybody gets to be Alice, and, in fact, we’re sort of leaving the audience at the end with this question of, ‘Is Alice in you? What sort of childhood delight do you want to continue in your life?’”

Polins said she’d wanted for a while for the Hatchery program to put on a show with a narrative, which is not always common in the dance world. “Alice in Wonderland” was a great fit, she said, because it’s about “things coming apart and turning upside down and nothing is what it seems, which is very much in tune with the times right now, I think.”

Besides that, she said, the story has a lot to do with “looking at alternate perspectives — what is happening, what reality is, and looking at things through different frames.” In the same vein, “Part of what we’re doing in the experimental art world is turning things upside down, looking from the inside out, reversing things, looking at things out of order, looking at how things could mean other things.”

Though the production does incorporate work by adults (including guest choreographers Mary Beth Brooker, Ashirah Devi Delomba, Tristan Koepke, and Ellie Goudie Averill and artist Barry Moser), about 80% of the show is the result of a youth-led creation process, which Polins said has been a great learning opportunity for the artists.

“The kids are writing their own music, creating their own animation, creating their own dances,” she said. “The kids are singing and speaking in this show as well as dancing, so it’s a really large, well-rounded theatrical production.”

“It is not a recital,” she added. “It’s really an inspiring piece of art.”

Unlike other dance schools, Hatchery doesn’t train its students for competitions, which allows them to spend time incubating (and, of course, “hatching”) new original works like this.

“It’s a school where kids learn how to collaborate, how to be leaders, how to be followers — where kids learn how to compose, and the rigorous skills needed to bring something from their mind and their imaginations onto the stage,” Polins said.

Besides attracting new members to join Hatchery, Polins also hopes that the show helps audiences reconnect to their senses of wonder and whimsy.

“We hope that the audience takes away the desire to continue to be delighted in things they don’t initially understand,” she said, “and that nonsense and a state of open curiosity is part of what makes life worth giving and our lives more interesting, that going on adventures can look like many different things — even just stepping out in your backyard or seeing things in slightly different ways.”

Tickets, not including fees, are $17 for students, $23 for low-income guests, and $25 for adults and non-students via Eventbrite. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The cast includes James DeVelder, Tovah Boucher, Libby Hayes, Pfeiffer, Morgan Brown-McNeil, Inna Selman, Anika Theis, Serena Gross, Alyse Maxner, Silas Kleppinger, and the Hatchery Pit Band.

For more information, visit scdtnoho.com/hatchery-wonderland-spring-2025.html.

Carolyn Brown can be reached at [email protected].