Alice in Wonderland
The event I want to tell you about is related to my playing the part of Alice in “Alice in Wonderland” at the Fanny Edel Falk School in Pittsburgh PA. I was in seventh or eighth grade, so it must have been in 1937 or ’38. Some of you know how much I loved Falk School, a private school run by the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education. A so-called “lab” school. I believe it’s now rated as one of the best lab schools in the country.
The two-story gray stone building is perched on the hilltop overlooking the campus. Their motto was, and still is “spirit of inquiry”. As soon as you enter that school you feel the energy and excitement of the students and teachers. The children are building things, experimenting with things, creating beautiful art works such as the stained-glass windows adorning each room. Even kindergarteners made such a window, with supervision of course.
One day in 1937 or ’38 it was announced that there would be auditions for roles in the play “Alice in Wonderland”. I auditioned. I didn’t think I had a chance because as everyone knows, Alice had long blond hair. My hair was shoulder-length and jet black. Also, my best friend, Enid Mitchell who was the smartest girl in the class, a very good softball player and the girlfriend of the most attractive boy in the class, had just such long blond hair. But, to my great surprise, the Director Mrs. Bacon chose me. I think she understood that I was Alice, living in a kind of wonderland. I still feel grateful to Mrs. Bacon for having chosen me and helped me so lovingly. I can still see her slim dark-haired figure at the back of the small auditorium shouting, “LOUDER, Nancy, LOUDER!”
Since my childhood dream was to be an actress, I loved every minute of rehearsal time as well as the performance. It was a great success. My mother took off time from her work as a corporate trial lawyer, to attend. Beautifully groomed and dressed as well as erudite, she made quite an impression on our teacher, Mr. Kalley and the Principle, Dr. Chorowski.
Much later in 2007, prompted by three dreams, I returned to my beloved school to do team-teaching. The art teacher, Pamela Krakowski Armstrong and the creative writing teacher, Greg Wittig, as well as two dream experts, Cynthia Pearson and Janet McCall helped me. A group of eighth graders acted out their dreams using costumes and props, which I provided. The next day they made collages based on those dreams. We had lots of fun. In the following year I received the “Outstanding Alumni Award” for that endeavor and my generous donations to the school over a period of years.
On my last visit to Falk School Pam, the art teacher treated me to dinner. Afterwards she brought me to that little auditorium, to see a play. She said that room had not been modernized like all the other rooms. I had tears in my eyes.