A student at English Crossing Elementary School in Lakewood, Ciara Nawrocki, 10, sings in the chorus of a new 3D Alice in Wonderland presented by META Performing Arts through May 4 at McIntyre Hall, Skagit Valley College, in Mount Vernon.
She is part of the younger chorus and it’s her first role with META.
“I have only been in school plays before,” said the well-spoken young lady.
“At school I played in ‘Hansel and Gretal’ and in ‘Goin’ Buggy’ when I was 7,” said Ciara Nawrocki.
Her favorite is the Tea Cup song, because “we get to dance a lot and I get to wear a tea cup,” she said.
“My dad made all the sets,” she added.
Don Nawrocki owns a machine shop, Nawrocki’s Machine, at Arlington Airport and he lives on Camano Island.
“We’ve got a 16-foot tall statue of a queen and a 32-foot wide forest,” he said.
“I built a 24-foot by 33-foot house, some hedge rows, a mushroom and a teapot,” he said, adding he has been working on the sets for two months.
“When my older daughter got in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ I offered my services and they found out I could build most anything.”
Ciara’s sister, Shayla Nawrocki, 16, is also involved in the production as part of the stage crew.
“My sister moves the sets and does some make-up,” Ciara said, adding that she tried out with her sister for a previous play when her sister got a part, but Ciara didn’t. Then she tried again for ‘Alice’ when her sister didn’t try out.
Ciara’s father said he built all the sets that Jack Gunter painted.
Ciara’s mother, Crystal Woods, lives in Arlington.
Audiences are warned the play is not authentic in chronology, as it abridges both of Alice’s adventures into a one and a half hour extravaganza.
The sets were designed by Camano Island artist, Jack Gunter, who created a vivid flourescent set that audience members can view through 3D glasses, provided by the theater.
Colors hang in mid-air, the stage stretches to eternity, and Alice bounces through the looking glass in glow-in-the-dark, in this creative and eye-popping version of Lewis Carroll’s classic book according to management of META Performing Arts, a not-for-profit theater committed to providing a professional experience for young actors and audiences of Skagit and north Snohomish County.
