After nearly a decade away, the San Benito Stage Company is coming home.
The local youth theater company will open its production of “Alice in Wonderland Jr.” at the Granada Theatre in Hollister, marking the company’s first performance at the historic venue in roughly eight years.
“It’s a really special full-circle moment,” said El Rose, 21, who is directing the production. “I was in the company’s Alice in Rebellion here at the Granada back in 2009. I grew up here.”
The production features a cast of 37 young performers, and runs about 90 minutes with intermission. For many of the lead actors, it marks their first time in a major role.
Melia Magana, 14, plays Alice, the story’s curious, searching protagonist who tumbles down a rabbit hole into a fantastical world and encounters a parade of eccentric characters, including the frantic White Rabbit, the tea-obsessed Mad Hatter and March Hare, and the temperamental Queen of Hearts.
“She doesn’t really feel like she fits in, and she’s trying to find out who she is as a person,” Magana said of the character. “The adventures are really important for her because they help her discover who she is. No matter how many times you’ve seen ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ you have not seen it the way we’re doing it.”
Amre Thiessen, 13, plays the Mad Hatter, which he described as fulfilling a “dream role.”
“I’ve wanted to be in this show my whole life,” he said. “It’s very different from the movies, but just as wonderful.”
Eleven-year-old Henry Davis, in his third production with the company, plays the March Hare. “It’s better than any extracurricular activity I could think of,” he said.
Berlyn Reyna, 13, takes on the role of the Queen of Hearts, a character she described with a grin as “really angry” and convinced she’s the boss of all of Wonderland.
“I love being loud and the center of attention,” Reyna said, “so this part fits me perfectly.”
Rose, a film major at Gavilan College making her directorial debut, said she was deliberate about pushing the cast away from simply mimicking familiar screen versions of their characters.
“They’ve managed to make the characters their own, to have their own fun take on it,” she said. “That’s what makes this show so special.”
One standout example, Rose said, is the production’s Caterpillar, played by Chloe McMullen, who reimagined the character as an almost “skater-kid” figure rather than the flower-child interpretation Rose had originally envisioned.
“She just totally made it her own,” Rose said. “She’s so cool.”
The return to the Granada also holds practical significance for a company that has performed in alternative spaces in recent years. For many of the younger cast members, it is their first time performing in a traditional theater with a proper stage, dressing rooms and backstage area.
“It feels real now,” Rose said. “We’re not just cramming into a warehouse trying to make it work. We have an actual theater space.”
Performances are scheduled for May 1, 2, 8, 15 and 16 at 7pm, with matinees on May 2 and May 16 at 1pm. Tickets are available at sanbenitostage.org.
