Noah Johnson Daily Press Members of Players de Noc rehearse a scene from Alice in Wonderland. The production starts today at the William Bonifas Fine Arts Center in Escanaba. Attendees will get to see the pictured Cheshire Cat (played by Pete Ammel), Alice (played by Zoey Kramer), the Duchess (played by Linda Simi) and more exciting and strange characters.

ESCANABA — Players de Noc is kicking off May with a new show starting Friday night.

Players will perform Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carol, adapted by Anne Coulter Martens, and directed by Players’ own Heather Grimes.

The showings are at the William Bonifas Fine Arts Center in Escanaba.

The play follows a young girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a whimsical and colorful world filled with strange characters like the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat.

Director Grimes, who is making her directorial debut, explained why she chose Alice in Wonderland.

“Alice in Wonderland has been on my bucket list for a long time,” Grimes said.

“My cast is from ages 13 and up, and I wanted to convey the story like the book rather than the Disney version. So, we have some comedic elements in there in a nod to the Disney version, but we’ve taken our own spin on Alice’s journey through life.”

Grimes said Alice’s story is important to her as it’s a story about a young woman letting go of childish things and becoming an adult.

Attendees will take the journey with Alice as she faces trials and tribulations along the way.

“It’s the the journey of a young woman in her own mind as she’s trying to let go of the things that she’s known in the past and accept reality for what it is as she becomes an adult,” Grimes explained.

There won’t be any blackouts during the play, except for intermission, as pieces of the set slide and move seamlessly to each scene.

“All of our pieces slide and move and change just like life changes. So, all of our set pieces change, and we don’t have any blackouts. Everything rolls from one scene to the next. You see all the changes happen, just like in life you see changes happen,” Grimes said.

It was a group effort to prepare the props, stage and costumes for the play as roughly 80 people between the cast and crew came together to put the show together.

“We’ve got some new lighting instruments that we’re implementing this time around too, which we’re really excited to debut,” she said.

Players underscored the entire show, so music will be playing throughout the show.

“We’ve built all the sounds, and I have original pieces of music in the script from Chris Powell,” Grimes said.

“He did four of the original pieces for the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb and for the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon,” she said.

Grimes added she is grateful to the sponsors for Players that keep the doors open and allow the group to keep creating magic.

“Jump down the rabbit hole, come on down to Players de Noc the next two weekends, and see this wonderful show,” Grimes said.

Opening night is this Friday, May 2, with additional shows on May 3,8,9 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. There is also a Sunday matinee on May 4 at 1:30 p.m.

Tickets are on sale and can be purchased at the William Bonifas Fine Arts Center or online at playersdenoc.org.