TADA! Youth Theater's THE TRIALS OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND Runs thru May 17

In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Lewis Carroll's original work, Alice in Wonderland, the Drama Desk Award-Winning TADA! Youth Theater will present THE TRIALS OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND, an original Off-Broadway musical performed by talented kids, for kids. ALICE opens on April 25th and runs through May 17th at TADA! 15 West 28th Street.

THE TRIALS OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND has music by Drama Desk nominee ERIC ROCKWELL and lyrics by Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel Award and Drama League nominee JOANNE BOGART with book by WILLIAM BROOKE. JANINE NINA TREVENS, Executive and Artistic Director of TADA! directs the production, TADA! JOANNA GREER, will choreograph and ADAM JONES STEVE O'SHEA, TADA! Resident Scenic & lighting Designer does set and lighting design, MEGAN TUREK designs the costumes and KEATON C. GRANT stage manages.

Based on the classic books by Lewis Carroll, this original musical starring TADA!'s RESIDENT YOUTH ENSEMBLE, The musical starts in modern day Coney Island, where Alice, a young girl, doesn't fit in with the other kids on the boardwalk and runs away to an abandoned fun house. The other kids follow and become the characters in the world of Wonderland, where Alice is on trial for growing and changing.

Will Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum defend Alice against the unruly judge, The Queen of Hearts? What does the King of Hearts have to say about all the goings on? Will Alice ever fit in and find her garden? Will she be found innocent or guilty? Will she keep her head? Who wins the game of croquet - Alice or The Queen? The witnesses (Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, Mad Hatter, March Hare and the Dormouse) testify and share the adventures they have with the different size Alices and the jurors will decide her fate. Come and see what awaits you in this world where we are all mad!

TADA! musicals are approximately one hour long and are intended for family audiences and you can bring the whole family to TADA! for less than one Broadway ticket! Audiences can also get in on the ACTion in an Audience InterACTive, joining TADA! Teaching Artsits on stage to learn a song and dance after the May 3rd or May 9th 4 p.m. show!

The show continues through May 17th, playing Saturdays & Sundays at 2pm & 4pm (no perf. May 10th Mothers' Day). Special Dates: Wed. May 6th at 10am & 12pm & Fri. May 1st & 15th at 7pm. The theater is located at 15 West 28th Street (bet. Broadway & 5th Ave.) Tickets: $15 Children ~ $25 Adults. For reservations, visit www.tadatheater.com.

ERIC ROCKWELL (Composer) created several musicals for TADA!, including Golly Gee Whiz, Up To You, The History Mystery, Everything About School (Almost) and Princess Phooey. A 2004 Drama Desk nominee for Best Music, Eric composed the score and co-wrote the book to The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) which, after two years of performances in New York, went on to have success on London's West End. Eric was a member of the BMI-Lehman Engle Musical Theater Workshop, where in addition to creating Musical of Musicals, he developed the score to A Little Princess, which received its world premiere in 2013 at the Sacramento Theater Company. At the Rockwell Music Studio, Eric teaches piano and voice to some of New York's most talented performers.

JOANNE BOGART (Lyricist) co-wrote and appeared in the Off-Broadway hit The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) (2004 Drama Desk nom. Best Musical, Best Music and Best Lyrics; the 2004 Lucille Lortel nom. Best Musical and the 2005 Drama League nom. Best Musical), which she co-wrote with composer Eric Rockwell. It has since been produced in several American regional theaters, as well as internationally, including London. She has also written for television on the Disney Channel. Other shows for TADA! include The Trials of Alice in Wonderland and Golly Gee Whiz, which won the 2009 National Youth Theatre Award for Outstanding New Musical. She and Eric Rockwell wrote the score for the TYA musical David and Goliath at the Kaufman Center and are currently working on a new musical.

WILLIAM BROOKE (Book Writer) wrote the books for The Roswell Follies (New York Fringe Festival), I'll Die If I Can't Live Forever (Off-Broadway, published by Samuel French) and The Trials of Alice in Wonderland at TADA! As an author, Bill's work includes A is for AARRgh!, A Telling of the Tales and three other novels published by Harper Collins. Two years ago, his version of A LIttle Princess, adapted from the classic novel of Frances Hodgson Burnett, had its first performance in Sacramento and will have its second production in Canada this year.

JANINE NINA TREVENS (Director and Executive & Artistic Director) co-founded TADA! in 1984 with Linda Reiff. She has served as the Artistic Director for all of the works produced by TADA!, many of which she commissioned specifically for the company, including Everything About A Family (Almost). For TADA!, she has written Heroes, The Little House of Cookies, Sweet Sixteen as well as Odd Day Rain and The Perfect Monster with composer/Lyricist Deirdre Broderick and The History Mystery. She directs many of TADA!'s musicals, numerous staged readings and Ensemble appearances at various locations and events in and around NYC. Nina was selected as one of 10 Parenting Leaders by Parenting Magazine, and she was one of only five women nationally to receive Family Circle's First Annual Halo Award for women who make a difference. She has served on funding panels for NYSCA, DCA, ART/NY and TCG and is a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women.

JOANNA GREER (Choreographer) is a Director-Choreographer and Teaching Artist and has had the pleasure of working with numerous award-winning organizations, such as The American Ballroom Theater (featured in the 2005 Documentary Mad Hot Ballroom), YANY, City Lights Youth Theatre and the acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Current TADA! director and/or choreographer credits include over 25 main-stage musicals as well as 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan Lori-Parks at TADA! and The Public Theater. Most recently, she choreographed Alienne: The Musical Adventures of My Little Martian at the 2014 New York Fringe Jr. Joanna is also the Co-founder of NYC-based Kinetic Dance Theater, an artistic collective driven toward innovating dance theater, cabaret and musical theater performance. Currently, her choreography can be seen across North America in 50 SHADES! The Musical.

STEVE O'SHEA (Resident Scenic & Lighting Designer) Recent Designs include Unsung/Heros, Samantha Spade, Ace Detective, The Gift of Winter, The Little Moon Theater, The Adventures of Ezra Jack Keats, Sleepover, Everything About School (Almost), Up To You, The History Mystery, Odd Day Rain, Rabbit Sense, The Magic Pot, Wide Awake Jake, B.O.T.C.H., The Perfect Monster, They Chose Me! (TADA! Youth Theater), God of Carnage (St. Louis Rep), Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Chaos Theory, Ladies In Retirement (Pulse Ensemble Theatre), Blade to The Heat, Aloha Say The Pretty Girls, 12 Ophelias (Baruch College), Murder In The Cathedral (University of CT), Last Easter (Drew University), Late (Clubbed Thumb), Carmen, Tristan Und Isolde, Magic Flute, Norma, Le Nozze di Figaro (Teatro de la Opera, San Juan PR), End of the Rope (Sibiu International Theatre Festival, Romania) and the Spring Fever Festival, NYC (breedingground).

ADAM JONES (Musical Director) credits with TADA! include Everything About A Family (Almost), Unsung/Heroes and The Gift of Winter. Originally from Troy, NY, he has traveled North America several times over as the Music Director and Conductor of the national tours of Annie and A Chorus Line. Adam majored in Film Scoring at The Berklee College of Music in Boston and has held the M.D. position at several regional theaters throughout the country.

MEGAN TUREK (Costume Designer) Recent costume design credits include TADA!'s Everything About A Family (Almost), Unsung/Heros and The Gift of Winter; Carousel and August: Osage County at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre; Grey Gardens and Next Fall at the Unicorn Theatre and the Coterie Theatre's production of The Presidents, Little House on the Prairie and U:BUG:ME.

KEATON C. GRANT (Stage Manager) is working on his first production with TADA! Recent credits: AEA Showcase: Cafe? Pen (SM), Dance: Prism - Ballez Dance Company (SM), Texas Shakespeare Festival: My Fair Lady (ASM), Macbeth (ASM), The Lost Prince (ASM). Adelphi University: Twelfth Night (SM), Generation T (SM), These Shining Lives (SM), Berkshire Fringe Festival: Painting His Wings (SM). NYC Fringe: Whiskey Jack (ASM/Sound Technician), Scarlet Fever.

Now celebrating 30 years, TADA! has provided young people of all different backgrounds, the opportunity to explore and perform musical theater together, in an educational, supportive and professional environment. Every year, TADA! produces three original musical theater productions with a discounted ticket program; free pre- professional training and youth development opportunities through the Resident Youth Ensemble, composed of approximately 80 NYC kids ages 8-18 annually; renowned Arts Education residency programs both in-and after- school programs that are often subsidized by our funders; and theater classes and camps for kids 2-13, taught by professional teaching artists and for which need-based scholarships are readily available.

TADA!'s mission is two-fold: to provide high-quality musical theater productions performed by talented kids for family audiences and to provide a safe, creative and nurturing place where kids can harness their inherent energy, build their self-assurance and realize their true potential through the unique collaborative art form that is musical theater. Through TADA!'s high-quality work, young people gain confidence and learn commitment, responsibility, communication and teamwork...skills that are critical to their success both in school and in life. TADA! Youth Theater is a 501(c)3 non-profit theater company.

Janine Nina Trevens, Executive and Artistic Director, co-founded TADA! in 1984 and continues to lead the organization towardsa robust future.She oversees all of TADA!'s programs and leads the Resident Youth Ensemble. Nina's lengthy tenure with TADA! and the overwhelmingly positive anecdotes from current and past alumni, speak to her credit as an artistic leader in youth theater. Nina was selected as one of 10 Parenting Leaders by Parenting Magazine and was one of only five women nationally to receive Family Circle's First Annual Halo Award for women who make a difference. TADA! is a Special Drama Desk Award-winner for "Providing an invaluable contribution to the future of the theater." TADA! has received five awards and twelve nominations from the National Youth Arts Awards for the 2013/2014 Season; the Coming Up Taller Award, the Nation's highest honor for youth development from the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities; the American Alliance for Theater Education's Anne Flagg Multicultural Award; Twelve National Youth Theatre Awards; and was nominated for an Independent Theater award - a first for a youth theater.

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