The famed ‘Alice in Wonderland’ will be performed by 15 cast members who are working hard to prepare for the March 16 and 17 performances.
The mostly young cast will feature Grace Ball as Alice, Lacey Cole as Queen of Hearts, Angus Waters as the White Rabbit, Nieta Salusalu as Mad Hatter and Paige Grant as the Cheshire Cat.
Other famous characters will be played by Elissa Gallpen, Imogen Rosendale, Kelsey Clark, Teddy Schofield, Lilly Boyer, Jaidyn White, Sara Myatt, Ella Clark and Isabel Pearn.
Director Sam Willis, who will also feature in the production, said with just a few more weeks to go rehearsals will move from their base at the Deniliquin Stadium to the Deniliquin RSL Club.
It will give the young actors a chance to get used to performing on a stage.
‘‘We have our full cast now and we are starting to fine tune the performance, bringing together components that we rehearsed separately as a whole piece,’’ Mr Willis said.
‘‘Bringing everything together is going to give the kids a sense of completion.
‘‘It’s been amazing to see these kids develop their skills and to see what they can do.
‘‘When we auditioned they read a monologue of choice, sang part of a song and answered some questions pertaining to their interest in drama and the role they were auditioning for.
‘‘We sat down as a group, reviewed our notes and worked out the cast list. The hardest thing when casting was having lots of kids come in with one particular character in mind. We have an amazing crew who have been very dedicated to the production.’’
Performance producer Anthony Myatt said the level of talent made the selection process quite difficult.
‘‘It was a hard decision sitting down and choosing the cast, but it has been amazing to see the kids come in on the first day being shy and now being confident and very talented,’’ he said.
‘‘We have been able to give these kids an outlet to express their passion for theatre. I am really excited to show what we have been working on because these kids are incredible.’’
Some of the costumes for the production have been donated by Moama Anglican Grammar, from their 2015 production of the same classic tale.
Tickets for the Deni Theatre Company’s first production are on sale at www.denitheatrecompany.com. They will also be sold at the Cressy St Kiosk in Deniliquin’s CBD on Saturday, March 2.