Alice Makes her Debut at PAL

The madness continues with a new exhibit of Alice on display in the Lowens Reading Room in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library.

Although Lewis Carroll’s beloved Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) began as a children’s book, during his lifetime the tale of Alice and her Wonderland friends went on to in-spire numerous theatrical and musical pieces. In fact, Carroll consulted and wrote special material for the first authorized major theatrical staging of Alice in Wonderland, presented to great acclaim by Henry Savile Clarke in 1886.

Since Carroll’s passing in 1898, interpretations of his works, characters, and life have multiplied astronomically in all of the performing arts. Alice has transcended boundaries of form and style from adaptations by the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to the psychedelic rock song “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane.

Items in the exhibit include a record of the very same song, as well as early plays, playbills and programs, sheet music, and photographs of well-known theatrical and film Alices like Isa Bowman and Carol Marsh. The items on display are on loan from the collection of local Lewis Carroll collectors August and Clare Imholtz, with select items from Special Collections in the Performing Arts collections.

Visit the Lowens Room to explore these Alice in the Performing Arts treasures. Can’t get enough Alice? Stop by Hornbake library and explore the exhibit Alice 150 Years and Counting…The Legacy of Lewis Carroll: Selections from the Collection of August and Clare Imholtz. You can also view the online exhibit anytime!