In the magical world of teacups, dancing roses and tulips, talking rabbits and more, the trippy dream from the notorious Disney movie Alice in Wonderland becomes a reality.

On Nov. 20, Bonita Vista High (BVH)’s Drama club held a fundraiser for their Alice in Wonderland play taking place Dec. 13 to Dec. 16. The fundraiser was a tea party with props and drama students dressed up as iconic characters from Alice in Wonderland. The tea party was held for anyone interested in the Bonita community, mainly geared towards children to enjoy snacks and tea while the drama students entertained them.

There were two time slots for people of the Bonita community to come and enjoy the show. One from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and another from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. outside of the Bolles theater on the grass. There were tables set up with chairs and typical tea set decorations with Alice in Wonderland themed music playing in the background. All the drama students played a crucial role in this tea party, dressed up as specific characters like Alice, Mad Hatter, White Rabbit and more.

For the two times slots, there were two separate Alice’s, the first time slot being drama student and senior Madison Almodovar and the second slot being drama student and sophomore Saphira Mensinger. Any Drama club members who didn’t dress up as a character were helping prepare the tea party snacks and tea for the customers who came.

“I’m dressed up as Alice and I got in character by making sure to rewatch the movie and see how Alice acts,” Mensinger said. “I also listened to the soundtrack of the original movie last night to help me grasp onto the vibe of Alice in Wonderland.”

Each drama student dressed up as the character that they will be playing as during the actual Alice in Wonderland performance since they have been studying those roles for the past few months. Other students such as Drama club president and senior Valeria Valencia dressed in all black to be a server and help give the guests their food and tea.

“I am currently a server so I take orders and help out in the back [inside the Bolles theater] a lot,” Valencia said. “Our team stays in character during this fundraiser to show that during the play we will execute the essence of the movie through our hard work of rehearsing almost everyday.”

The money from the fundraiser will be used to pay off expenses for the winter production. Valencia describes how the fundraiser plays a crucial part in supporting the club itself as well as the school community.

“The importance of the fundraiser is to raise money for our winter production, which is going to be Alice in Wonderland themed. We put on a Mad Hatter tea party to promote the play first and then also to celebrate the announcement of the play because this is the big launch of it,” Valencia said.

To prepare for this event, the Drama club had to meet every Monday and organize what props and decorations were going to be used at the tea party. Altogether, the tea party was funded by donations from those in the BVH community and also paid for by the Drama club members themselves. Valencia explains how they wanted it to be as authentic as they could with the resources they had.

“Most of the items out here being used to serve and the props are donated from people in the BVH community. We prepared by requesting the amount of chairs and tables that we needed based on the amount of people who bought tickets,” Valencia said. “We had to search for all the decorations we needed like the teacups, teapots, tea sets and food and we had volunteers come to help us.”

Many different guests bought tickets before their arrival. For adults, it was 15 dollars and for children ages five to 11, it was 10 dollars. Many kids, students and parents came to this event, along with local parent Angelina Scholey. She mentions how she was informed of the event and how it was enjoyable to see her daughter have fun at the tea party.

“My former coworker sent it to me with a screenshot of the information on my Facebook Messenger app, so I brought my daughter with me because I think she would like going to an event like this and a little tea party for her birthday,” Scholey said. “She is younger so obviously she doesn’t go to Bonita but I wanted to support the cause and also have a fun experience with my daughter.”

Overall, the drama team all worked hard to practice for their roles and wanted to make sure they gave the best performance possible. Mensinger explains how this fundraiser will open more opportunities for the club and ensure that they will have a successful production at the end of the semester.

“I think everyone should come to see our play because it is fun and cool,” Mensinger said. “We worked hard to make this happen and supporting theater is important because it is an impactful part of the school that doesn’t get too much attention.”