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February 21 - March 29, 2024

Best enjoyed by Grades 2-12

Student Matinees

RESERVE YOUR FIELD TRIP

A Children’s Theatre Company Original Production

Take a tumble down the rabbit hole with Alice and you’ll land in a wonderfully wacky world of rhymes and ridiculousness, checkerboards and cheeky cats, Mad Hatters and mayhem. In this head-spinning show, Alice chases the White Rabbit through the audience, attends the most absurd tea party in history, and faces off with the ragingly red Queen of Hearts, all amidst a melee of teeny tiny songs. Humpty Dumpty on a ladder – what could possibly go wrong? Curiouser and curiouser…

Story by Lewis Carroll
Adapted for the stage by Sharon Holland
Music by Victor Zupanc
Directed by Peter C. Brosius

  • Run time

    2 hours including intermission

  • Best enjoyed by

    Grades 2-12

  • Stage

    UnitedHealth Group Stage

  • EDUCATOR GUIDE

About the Show


  • Alice in Wonderland is a large-scale play with music based on the original story by Lewis Carroll and featuring a large cast of adult and student actors.
  • This production takes place on our UnitedHealth Group Stage which seats up to 745 people per performance.
  • We know that teachers are the best judge to determine the right fit for their unique group of students. We recommend Alice in Wonderland for students in grades 2–12 due to the length and content. Check out the synopsis and content advisories for full information.

Educator Guide


At CTC, our mission is to create extraordinary theatre experiences that educate, challenge, and inspire young people and their communities. This Educator Guide is just one of the ways in which we aim to enhance your experience and further your students’ engagement with the shows on stage. It includes pre- and post-show activities and discussion questions, printouts to send home with permission slips, and important information for the day of your field trip.

VIEW EDUCATOR GUIDE

Content Advisories


Language: 0 out of 5 stars
Humpty Dumpty asks Alice what her name is, and she answers, “Alice, but…” and he cuts her off and calls her “Alice Butt.”

Themes and Situations: 2 out of 5 stars
The Duchess sings about beating her little boy when he sneezes. The Mad Hatter and March Hare tell Alice to have some wine. The Queen of Hearts leads the King of Hearts around on a leash. Alice is put on trial with a cage over her head, and the Queen threatens to have her executed.

Violence & Scariness: 1 out of 5 stars
The White Rabbit is worried he’ll be beheaded by the Queen of Hearts. The Duchess tells a cook to chop off Alice’s head. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare kick and hit each other in a slapstick style. The March Hare almost hits the Dormouse with a mallet. During the trial, the ensemble menacingly approaches Alice while repeatedly calling her guilty.

Sensory Advisories: 2 out of 5 stars
A smoking cauldron of soup may cause some fog/haze to enter the first few rows. During the trial, there are some loud sounds and bright spotlights while the witnesses give their testimony. Spiraling projections are used as Alice goes back up through the rabbit hole. Some sound effects may be loud and jarring.

Potentially Anxious Moments: 2 out of 5 stars
The Duchess and ensemble throw a bundled baby in the air. Humpty Dumpty climbs a tall ladder and sways forwards and backwards, eventually falling off behind a wall. Alice is put on trial with a cage over her head, and the Queen threatens to have her executed. Actors enter the audience and may interact with audience members.

Full Plot Description

This is a complete description of the play, so it is full of spoilers.


We see Alice and her sister Edith sitting outside under a tree. Edith is reading a history book, and Alice is bored. She starts yawning and sees a white rabbit with a waistcoat and pocket watch run by. Intrigued, she follows after him as he sings about being late. She follows him down a rabbit hole.

At the bottom, Alice finds herself in the Mysterious Hall of Locked Doors. She finds a small key that works on a tiny door, but she cannot fit through. She drinks a potion that makes her smaller and goes through the door into a garden. She encounters the White Rabbit who mistakes her for someone named Mary Ann. He asks her to get his gloves for him. As she follows the White Rabbit, she runs into the Caterpillar.

Alice tells him she wishes to be larger, and he tells her that the mushroom might help. If she eats one side it will make her larger and the other will make her smaller. As Alice goes to explore, a Fish and Frog Footmen enter with an invitation from the Queen addressed to the Duchess, inviting her to a game of croquet. Alice startles them, and they drop the invitation. Reading it, Alice decides to deliver it to the Duchess.

She next finds herself in the Duchess’s kitchen where there is a smoking pot of soup amid many cooks and the Duchess holding a baby. The smoke makes Alice sneeze, and the Duchess sings a song about how she speaks roughly to her baby and beats him when he sneezes. During the song, the bundled baby gets tossed in the air. Alice tells her not to treat her baby that way, and the Duchess throws him to her to take care of. The Duchess and cooks exit so the Duchess can get ready for her game of croquet. As Alice holds the baby, it starts grunting and she realizes that is actually a pig. She sets the pig down, and it runs offstage.

Alice meets the Cheshire Cat and asks him for directions to find the White Rabbit. He leads her to a clearing where a tea party is set. She meets the Mad Hatter and the March Hare who are having a truly wacky tea party. Alice gets frustrated with the Mad Hatter and March Hare’s antics when she sees the White Rabbit run by. She chases him off stage.

Alice then meets Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Tweedledee broke Tweedledum’s new rattle, and they have agreed to have a battle. They comically fight before exiting together. Alice remarks that she hasn’t ever seen anyone make such a fuss over something so small when she runs back into the Cheshire Cat. His tail points her in a direction towards Humpty Dumpty’s wall.

Humpty Dumpty enters and climbs a ladder. Alice knows the poem and is worried that he will fall. He is very sure that no such thing will happen. The ladder sways forward and backwards, but he continues chatting with Alice. He is about to tell her goodbye when he sways just a bit too far and falls off the ladder behind a wall.

The White Knight enters on his horse to help put Humpty Dumpty together again, but he is too late. Instead, he offers to help Alice find her way through the forest. He pulls out his sword when he hears a noise thinking it might be the Jabberwock. As he tells Alice about the Jabberwock, the monster enters and fights the White Knight. The White Knight fights him and decapitates him. The White Knight leaves Alice asking her not to forget him.

She continues on her way and finds herself in a garden where playing cards are painting the white roses red. It is here that she finally catches up to the White Rabbit. She is about to speak with him when the Queen of Hearts enters. The Queen questions Alice and asks her if she can play croquet. The Queen notices that one of the white roses hasn’t been painted yet, and yells, “Off with their heads!” The playing cards manage to run away before the execution can swing the axe in their direction.

It is now time for the croquet match. They are using flamingoes for mallets and hedgehogs for croquet balls. Alice goes first, and the White Rabbit ensures that her hedgehog does not score any points. The Queen takes a turn, and the White Rabbit and Playing Cards ensure that she makes every point. The Queen wins through cheating.

The Cheshire Cat enters, and Alice confides in him that the game isn’t fair. The Queen demands to know who she’s talking to, but the Cheshire Cat keeps disappearing when the Queen looks his way. The cat lifts up the back of her dress and exposes her underwear. There is a blackout and we see the Cheshire’s smiling grin appear in different areas of the stage. When the lights return, the cat is gone, and the Queen blames Alice. The Queen yells for her to have her to lose her head.

The King of Hearts asks the White Rabbit for some of the tarts that the Queen made that morning. The White Rabbit announces that the tarts are missing. Alice gets blamed, but she remembers the poem in which the Knave of Hearts has stolen the tarts. The King of Hearts suggests that they have trial before the execution.

During the trial, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare arrive to serve as witnesses. They don’t have much to offer in terms of evidence, and the Queen has her executioner chase them offstage with an axe to cut off their heads. The Duchess is the next witness to be called. She says that she will not give any evidence and exits.

Alice has had enough and tells the Queen to hold her tongue and that the people proceeding over the trial are just a pack of cards! The courtroom begins rocking and spinning madly. The characters all swarm in circles, and we see a spiraling light on the floor as Alice hears the characters repeating words from earlier in the story. Alice disappears through a rabbit hole in the floor, and we next see her sleeping against her sister’s leg back under the tree.

Her sister wakes her up, and Alice realizes it was all a dream.

Alice In Wonderland title on a stage with curtains

“Our Alice in Wonderland features an extraordinary scenic and costume design by the remarkable Skip Mercier,” said Director Peter C. Brosius. “Skip created a world of illusion, surprise, mystery, and hilarity. We are thrilled to bring this wonderfully quirky and joyfully theatrical production to our stage. It is a magical tale of discovery, standing your ground, and following your curiosity. Alice is a musical and visual feast, a wild journey down the rabbit hole and into incredible new worlds.”

Extend the Experience


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Workshops & Residencies


CTC transforms the classroom through multi-disciplined interactive workshops that spark creativity, encourage collaboration, and inspire action. Professional teaching artists facilitate engaging and inclusive learning opportunities for students while personalizing each experience to the needs and interests of your students and the learning goals of your classroom.

More Information

Alice in Wonderland Student Matinee

February 21 - March 29, 2024

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Friday

Mar 29

10:30am

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