Seven years after its last production, Lookingglass Theatre Company's beloved signature production Lookingglass Alice goes down the rabbit hole once again.
Molly Brennan makes an imposing impression as the Red Queen in the 2015 production of Lookingglass Alice.
Lookingglass Theatre has long been considered one of the city’s most wildly creative theater troupes, and perhaps no production has won the company more fans in its nearly 35-year history than Lookingglass Alice, a fanciful adaptation of the stories of Lewis Carroll that was first produced in 2005 and has since been performed across the country. Now, the company is revisiting the production for the first time since 2015—and as much as the world has changed, so too has Alice evolved. “Alice’s journey through Wonderland and across the chessboard takes on a new, deeper resonance in our world right now,” says adaptor and director David Catlin. “The Caterpillar asks, ‘Who are you?’ Alice responds, ‘Well, I hardly know at present—I knew who I was when I woke up this morning, but I’ve changed so many times since then.’” What excites Catlin most about bringing the show back? “The world has felt isolated and lonely in each of our remote spaces,” he notes. “We have all lost something, someone or some part of how we were. We need to be in rooms together rediscovering the joy-filled power of nonsense. We need to remind ourselves to play, and that playing takes practice. I think Lookingglass Alice is a 90-minute reminder about the sheer joy of playing.” April 30-July 31, Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave., lookingglasstheatre.org
Photography by: LIZ LAUREN
