Alpharetta Students Part of Cast, Crew in 'James and the Giant Peach'

Alpharetta students at Brenau University are participating in the cast and crew of the Gainesville Theatre Alliance WonderQuest production of the stage adaptation of the children's classic "James and the Giant Peach," scheduled to run Sept. 29-Oct. 7 in Brenau University's historic Pearce Auditorium.

The local students are:

• Dierdre Kunze, a freshman from Alpharetta majoring in theater, will be working as assistant stage manager in the production.
• Alexandra Matthews, a senior from Alpharetta majoring in theater design and technology, will perform the role of Miss Spider in addition to working as costume crafts supervisor in the production.

Brenau collaborates with Gainesville State College in the Gainesville Theatre Alliance, which for three decades has brought high-level drama and musical performances involving students, community theater amateurs and professionals to stages at the two institutions.

WonderQuest is GTA's organization, which is dedicated to offering professionally-produced theater specifically for children and their families.

The WonderQuest production of "James and the Giant Peach" celebrates the 50th anniversary of a classic in children's literature, the popular 1961 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl, which was transformed into the 1996 Disney film.

Adapted from the novel by playwright David Wood and directed by Gay Hammond, assistant professor of theater at Brenau University, the play focuses on a young English orphan boy whose misadventures with a magic potion he acquires to escape his abusive and repulsive guardian aunts, Spike and Sponge, sets him off on a surreal cross-world adventure inside a giant peach.

Play Dates

Family Performances: 7:30 p.m., Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 7 & 8, 2011; 2:30 p.m., Oct. 2.

School Matinees: 9:30 and 11:30 a.m., Sept. 29 & 30, Oct 5, 6 & 7.

Locaton

Brenau University's Historic Pearce Auditorium

500 Centennial Circle, Gainesville

Ticket Prices

$10-12 for adults, $7-8 for students.

Meet the actors following the Sept. 30 performance in a reception, or in an ice cream social with the cast after the Oct. 2 performance.