"The honesty is what comes through in 'Wonderland,' " mused Casey Ford Alexander '09, one of the actors involved in "Wonderland Salvage," an original play written and directed by Josh Williams '07. At 11:15 p.m. on Sunday night, after a long, exhausting rehearsal, some of the cast and crew gathered in a circle in the Charrier Room of Theatre Intime to talk about the experience of bringing "Wonderland Salvage" to life.
The play centers around a pawnshop near Boston called Wonderland Salvage. The date: Christmas 2001, directly after the 9/11 incident. The Arab-American owner of the pawnshop, who is dealing with heavy financial problems, is also caring for his niece and nephew who were abandoned by their mother. Everything changes, however, when a soap stain resembling the Virgin Mary is discovered on the window of a neighboring pet store.
Williams first began working on the play in February, and continued to write and rewrite throughout part of the rehearsal process of the show. Oddly enough, Williams initially drew his inspiration from a chalkboard he had in his dorm room. He would write and draw all over his chalkboard, jotting down phrases and ideas that popped into his head, even drawing vampires. "There is no way I could describe to you the insanity of the blackboard," said Christian Burset '07, the play's production manager and a senior writer for The Daily Princetonian. "The play is as complicated as the blackboard."
The play itself stems from multiple sources, ranging from conversations with strangers, to current events such as the alleged appearance of a Virgin Mary apparition in a hospital near Boston in 2003, to issues that are less talked about, such as insidious racism and prejudice against the mentally ill.
William said that the most challenging aspect of writing and directing "Wonderland Salvage" was maintaining complete honesty: "There were some pretty intense, violent moments that I found really hard to write, but that I made myself write because I thought they were important." When asked what message the play conveys, he said that he is wary of being prescriptive, or saying that there is a specific way of solving problems.
"There are issues that real people deal with that are serious, and I wrote a play about them in tribute to them, towards an understanding of what they go through, not to come up with a definitive decision, but rather to say that it's not that easy, it's not that simple," Williams said. "We have a habit of ignoring things that are inconvenient; we have a duty to pay attention to them."
The cast was worried about alienating the audience, actress Whitney Mosery '08 said. However, the intimate space of the venue and the careful construction of emotionally charged moments should keep the audience engaged. "Having such an emotionally intense play in such an intimate space ... creates a more individual experience for the audience members," actor Doug Lavanture '08 said.
"Wonderland Salvage" will be playing at Theatre Intime December 1-3 at 8 p.m., and December 8-10 at 7 p.m., with an additional show on December 10 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $6 for Princeton students, $10 for seniors and faculty and $12 for the general public. Tiger Tickets may be used. This play does contain graphic scenes, and is probably not suitable for children under the age of 16.
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