Acting has been a love of Maggie Fitzgerald’s ‘20 ever since she decided to join the Birches Elementary drama club in the fourth grade.

“I like pretending to be different characters and hearing their stories,” said Fitzgerald.

She is amazed that she gets to do all of these things without ever leaving her own life.  On September 18^th, that enthusiasm paid off when she was cast as the lead role of the Way Off Broadway Players’ staging of Alice @ Wonderland.

Of course, Fitzgerald finds the audition process to be very stressful, but she recognizes that she puts most of the stress on herself.  She was uncertain about auditioning this year because she is also involved in Student Council, which meets often and is very time consuming.  On the first day of auditions, actors went to the meeting to find out the story and the characters of the plays.  The actors then read monologues from two contrasting characters (Fitzgerald chose Alice and the Queen of Hearts).  The next day, at callbacks, qualifying actors were evaluated for a second time and asked to portray other characters to assess the depth and breadth of their talent.

The character breakup of Alice stated that she was a 12-year-old girl.  This made Fitzgerald think that she may have a chance at being cast as lead because the directors of the play could be looking for someone younger than a senior.

After discovering that she was cast as the lead, Fitzgerald was pleasantly surprised.  She cannot wait to act in this production because she has always loved Disney characters, and was even Alice for Halloween one year.

“A lot of people know my family is literally obsessed with Disney,” said Fitzgerald.

Moreover, she likes the idea of being able to immerse herself in a orld of her own, just like Alice.  She feels that she shares many similar traits with Alice in that Fitzgerald is also curious, open-minded, and accepting.

“Alice has the most open mind anyone could have, I mean she makes up a world of her own,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald was a bunny in last year’s production of Snow White.

“It is really challenging to go from a bunny with no lines to Alice with 300,” said Fitzgerald.

She is ready to take on the challenge of having the most lines to memorize and rarely ever getting a break from the spotlight throughout the play.  In the school’s production, Alice is bratty and a know it all, but she is still the innocent child that most fans recognize.  This is even more challenging on Fitzgerald’s part because she finds it ard to portray two very different personalities.

Alice @ Wonderland will stay true to [the animated Disney classic], but with a bit of a modern twist,” said Fitzgerald.

The director, Ms. Abigail Molotsky, stuck to the fairy tale theme, again after last year’s Snow White production.  Molotsky chose to do a modern version of “Alice in Wonderland” in order to appeal to more children.  In this modified version, the costumes will most likely be very similar to the original, but what differs is that Alice is carrying around her new iPhone and the plot is based around her searching for a phone charger throughout the story.

“It’s going to be a really good show if everyone works together and tries their best,” said Fitzgerald.

In addition, Fitzgerald believes she that can bring a lot to Alice’s character and is confident that it will be a great show.

Although Fitzgerald is very excited, nerves follow closely behind.  It’s nerve-racking to be in any show, but after having plenty of experience, Fitzgerald is ready to take on any challenge that comes her way, and is confident that she can do it.

Fitzgerald believes, “It is all about having fun and doing what you love.”