By Mrs. Wheeler
Alice by Heart, written by Steven Sater (lyrics), Duncan Sheik (music), and Jessie Nelson (book), is a beautiful story set in London in WWI involving our main character, Alice Spencer, who escapes into the world of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll to cope with trauma, grief, and young love. The Lourdes Theatre Company (LTC) had the amazing opportunity to share this story with their friends, family, and the OLL community this past March. As the assistant director (AD) and producer, I worked closely with Ms. Marybeth Boylan, the director of the LTC, and the cast, crew, musical directors (Ms. Libertino and Mr. Rose), and our design team to bring this story to life on the OLL stage, as well as promote the show on the Lourdes Theatre Company’s social media page.
This show had a perfect balance of dark and light, wavering between the reality of death and PTSD in a war-torn world, and love, friendship, and the use of storytelling and art as a coping mechanism. Our students did a beautiful job bringing our audience into the world of Alice and managing these heavy themes and I had the best time being a part of this production. The students started the rehearsal process in December, shortly after our Fall production of Radium Girls. These students (our cast and crew) are talented, hardworking, and so supportive of one another– it’s really wonderful to see. We will miss our graduating LTC seniors (Simon Benca, Matthew Burchell, Rory Courtemanche, Sofia DeLeon, Isabella Gemmati, Jonathan Jabbour, Madeleine Langley, Karolina Mroczek, and Paul Trataros) and we are so grateful that they’ve shared their gifts with the LTC throughout the years. Stay tuned and up to date on the LTC Instagram for updates into our many adventures to come!