ESCANABA — When I was a little girl, I thought the famed story of Alice in Wonderland was a bit confusing. I had watched the Disney cartoon and later read the original novel. As a teen, there was a live-action movie release and there have been dozens of retellings in my lifetime; thousands since Lewis Carroll first told the story to three young daughters of a friend during a canoe ride in 1862. It was not until I saw the youth theater production at Players de Noc that the story clicked for me. I recognized, in the wheeze of a moody caterpillar, the debate over a peppered pot of soup, the bobbing head of a bored dormouse – “I know these people!” In the literal sense, I know and trust the experienced directors, cast and crew of Players de Noc, such as Pete Ammel playing a brilliant Cheshire Cat or Heather Grimes as a masterful director. But in a figurative sense, I “know” an anxious planner like the White Rabbit (Easton Kositzky), a moralizing auntie like the Duchess (Linda Simi), and a strident Humpty Dumpty (Bo Troutman). There were even some references to “off with their head” that echoed the national dialogue. My three-year old daughter sat with me in the audience, her eyes fixed on the action. We laughed at the Mad Hatter and the March Hare arguing about the time, and a croquet game with flamingos and painted blossoms. We were dazzled by the amazing set and the fabulous costumes, the word-play and the sword-play. The straight-man, Alice (Zoey Kramer) was “us,” trying to figure out why the people around her were so strange and critical, looking for a friend, trying to make sense of it all. “Literary nonsense” is a genre I have not spent much time with outside of nursery rhymes, but I can see how this story emerged from a stiff Victorian society to provide an escape for the imagination. It is adapted beautifully for the Bonifas stage, with colors, textures, and characters in such bright contrast with the muted landscape of everyday life. It is propelled by an original score by Chris Powell, choreography by Madalyn Mayers and Marissa Backlund, an army of cards and an enchanting lineup of flowers. The production is truly a Wonderland and I strongly encourage you to visit it yourself. The Cheshire Cat would say you can never return if you leave, but whether you are a child, an adult, or a Mock Turtle, I say this is a story we will never tire of puzzling through. Performances are May 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 at 7:30 p.m. and May 4 at 1:30 p.m. at the William Bonifas Fine Arts Center Theater.

ESCANABA — When I was a little girl, I thought the famed story of Alice in Wonderland was a bit confusing. I had watched the Disney cartoon and later read the original novel. As a teen, there was a live-action movie release and there have been dozens of retellings in my lifetime; thousands since Lewis Carroll first told the story to three young daughters of a friend during a canoe ride in 1862.

It was not until I saw the youth theater production at Players de Noc that the story clicked for me. I recognized, in the wheeze of a moody caterpillar, the debate over a peppered pot of soup, the bobbing head of a bored dormouse – “I know these people!”

In the literal sense, I know and trust the experienced directors, cast and crew of Players de Noc, such as Pete Ammel playing a brilliant Cheshire Cat or Heather Grimes as a masterful director. But in a figurative sense, I “know” an anxious planner like the White Rabbit (Easton Kositzky), a moralizing auntie like the Duchess (Linda Simi), and a strident Humpty Dumpty (Bo Troutman). There were even some references to “off with their head” that echoed the national dialogue.

My three-year old daughter sat with me in the audience, her eyes fixed on the action. We laughed at the Mad Hatter and the March Hare arguing about the time, and a croquet game with flamingos and painted blossoms. We were dazzled by the amazing set and the fabulous costumes, the word-play and the sword-play. The straight-man, Alice (Zoey Kramer) was “us,” trying to figure out why the people around her were so strange and critical, looking for a friend, trying to make sense of it all.

“Literary nonsense” is a genre I have not spent much time with outside of nursery rhymes, but I can see how this story emerged from a stiff Victorian society to provide an escape for the imagination. It is adapted beautifully for the Bonifas stage, with colors, textures, and characters in such bright contrast with the muted landscape of everyday life. It is propelled by an original score by Chris Powell, choreography by Madalyn Mayers and Marissa Backlund, an army of cards and an enchanting lineup of flowers.

The production is truly a Wonderland and I strongly encourage you to visit it yourself. The Cheshire Cat would say you can never return if you leave, but whether you are a child, an adult, or a Mock Turtle, I say this is a story we will never tire of puzzling through.

Performances are May 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 at 7:30 p.m. and May 4 at 1:30 p.m. at the William Bonifas Fine Arts Center Theater.