June 7, 14, 1931
Alice Adventuring in Wonderland, adapted by Mrs. Sandall from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, combined into an enjoyable artistic event. This production marked two firsts: the play was presented twice, on successive weekends, and it used a chorus.
The sets and elaborate costumes were created by William (Bill) Darling who did such extraordinary work during the early years of the Kitsap Theater.
"Claire MCGuire [Players Business Manager 1925-1932] had for years been looking for a play suited to the Forest Theater which would allow for group singing. The play given in 1931 offered the first opportunity to introduce a chorus. It was 'The Adventures of Alice,".... The music used was Liza Lehmann's arrangements of the nonsense verses by Carroll. There the lower stage was laid out to represent a huge red and white chessboard. There the main action took place, and once again The Mountaineers saw the Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter, and many other characters which Bill Darling had first made real before their eyes in the earlier 'Alice' play. Myrtle Hester again played the part of Alice. The other characters new to the audience were chessboard characters, and the action followed the moves of a chess game. On the mound was arranged a chorus of flowers led by Frances Penrose."[Wilmer Froistad, The Mountaineer, 1933]
1931 was also the year in which according to Harriet Walker's 1942 account of the theater's history when the seating was terraced and enlarged. In addition the area of the mound was doubled. Later excavation of the mound in 2017 found that large cedar logs were used as the base of this enlargement. In later years the height of the mound would slowing subside as the logs decomposed. There were even plans to put in actual seating, but the Great Depression dried up the monetary resources to make that happen.
