BY JUDI STRAUGHAN
 
In Alice in Wonderland, when Alice fell through a rabbit hole, she landed in a magical, inexplicable world.
When actor Jenn Stewart, who plays Alice, fell through her rabbit hole, she was only seven years old. What happened to her is the thing fairy tales are made of.
She grew up in Stratford, Ont., where an insightful, progressive Grade 2 teacher Lois Burdett decided her class should perform a Shakespearean play. The class did the children’s version of Twelfth Night with Stewart playing the lead role Viola.
Burdette was able to pull enough strings to have the piece performed on the Stratford stage. There Stewart was, performing in the presence of such Stratford icons as Colm Feore and Seanna McKenna at seven years of age.
Artistic Director David Williams spotted Stewart and invited her to be in Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale that summer. Next, she was cast in The Taming of the Shrew with Feore and Goldie Semple, Geraint Wyn Davies, William Needles and many more Stratford powerhouses. Imagine being directed by Richard Monette at age nine.
That 1988 production has gone down in history as one of Stratford’s best.
I had almost forgotten the connection I had with Sudbury, until I arrived here at STC for Alice.
Jenn Stewart,
actor
“I had almost forgotten the connection I had with Sudbury, until I arrived here at STC for Alice,” Stewart said. “I worked with a number of Sudbury people in Huron Country Playhouse — Tony Lloyd, Simon and Gloria Day, Leisa Way, Heather Wilson and Kelly Straughan. And here I am, finally, performing at their home theatre.”
William Hutt became part of Stewart’s life in 1993. Has there been anyone more loved and respected on the Stratford stage? Theatre fans across the nation have always been in awe of Hutt’s superior performance — and there was little 12-year-old Jenn Stewart on stage alone with him in The Imaginary Invalid.
“He taught me so much, in a way that a child could understand,” Stewart said. “When he saw me walk too close to the edge of the stage, he told me to imagine there was a wall there. He said that in life we never walk right next to a wall. After that, I knew what distance to keep and why. He also taught me how to play to the balcony because they had to be included in the performance as well.
“And boy, did William Hutt love baseball. He would be watching a game on a TV back stage, and then out he would go, just in time for his next scene.”
Stewart’s life in the theatre has seen her play Gertie Pie in Anne of Green Gables in Charlottetown and understudy Anne herself.
“I’m sorry I never got to go on as Anne, but Chelina Kennedy, who is a Stratford star right now, was always healthy and didn’t need the break,” she said.“But studying Anne helped me be prepared to play Alice here.
“Anne and Alice are pretty similar in many ways — strong females who know what they want. You have to play each the same way — in the moment with little subtext and an earnest larger-than-life quality.
“Each is a young, assertive feminist who really was a precursor of modern times. Both Anne and Alice will not take no for an answer, but in a most polite way.”
She explained her experience acting in Mamma Mia and Hairspray in Toronto has also taught her things she can apply to Alice in Wonderland.
“I played an exaggerated teenager in both shows, a similar acting style to what’s required here. It all fits together so well.”
Stewart has been living in New York City for the past two years with her actor husband, Sam Strasfeld, who has a long Broadway run in Mary Poppins.
“I feel like Alice when I’m living in downtown NYC,” Stewart said. “Like Alice, there are a lot of strange people and situations I come upon every time I hit the streets.”
Stewart said she is sure Sudbury audiences are going to love David Savoy’s Alice in Wonderland. “It’s so high energy, so magical, so circus-like…fun but not fluff. And as a bonus, there are good life lessons to be learned in this production.”
She is thrilled with many aspects of the production: the great cast, the directing, the wild and wonderful costumes, the special effects. “Sudbury audiences are going to be wowed.”
Alice and Jennifer Stewart share much in common, least of which is their wild and magical ride through life.
Alice in Wonderland plays weekends only at the Sudbury Theatre Centre from Dec. 3–19. For ticket information, visit www.sudburytheatre.on.ca or phone 705-674-8381.
 
