Little and Big. Eat Me. Drink Me.

All Rights Touchstone Pictures.

Much like Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas, I have emerged--jazzed and rejuvenated for my own work--after taking on an insane project.

As a board member of the Contra Costa Ballet Foundation, I offered my skills to design/produce sets and props in order to offset the onerous costs of a brand-new production of Alice in Wonderland, choreographed and directed by rising choreographer Robert Dekkers of Post:Ballet. 

Crazy, right? There really should be an anti-volunteering cuff you could buy that would attach your hand to your pants and prevent its being raised.

But crazy was just what the doctor ordered. After the manic, collaborative episode that was Alice took over my life, now that the show's done I'm ready to once again embrace my books (and the nutty world of publishing) with renewed fervor.

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LITTLE! Here is my painting for the ballet backdrop, done at 1/4" to 1'.

BIG! The backdrop on its frame in the 2-story scene shop at UC Berkeley. Photobomber is my daughter Helen, who was not in the ballet, she goes to SF Ballet School.

Below are pics from the production process. Click on each to read the captions or view as a slideshow.

HUGE shout-outs go to Dan Sweeney of Stuf Inc, who built the flats, mushroom, table and swing. And to Katherine Mattson and Glynn Bartlett of the UC Berkeley Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. We quite literally could not have done this without them.

I know my photography leaves something to be desired. When I get actual performance photos, I will post them.