This year’s fall play, Alison Grimm at the Edge of the World, will be the last production in the Little Theater before the drama productions move to the theater in the school in January.

Alison Grimm is about a girl, Alison Grimm, who loses her ability to read and goes on a mythical journey between worlds. As Grimm goes through her self discovery in the production, she also goes through a series of trials between worlds.

“One of her struggles is that she also has the ability, kind of like Harry Potter, to move between existing planes,” said Richard Weingartner, director of the production.

Junior Jonathan von Mering described the play as more of a dance piece.

“It really uses the basic building blocks of what a story is by using the universal language of story as a direct medium,” said von Mering. “Through the story there is a lot of interaction between Alison’s world and her story world.”

An original production was chosen for the fall play to follow the tradition of original productions within the Wayland High School Theater Ensemble (WHSTE).

Alison Grimm is being written by the cast and Weingartner himself. Since Weingartner started teaching at Wayland, WHSTE has made sure to create at least one original piece each year.

Much like last year’s fall play, Larry Mars and His Radio All-Stars, WHSTE is taking well-known story ideas and relaying them into this year’s show.

“It has some of those elements that you might find in something like Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland,” said Weingartner. “But those same elements could be applied in Star Wars or Indiana Jones. It’s not specifically based off of those stories, but it has the same mythical structure.”

The cast of this year’s fall play is just as excited as Weingartner to work on their original production. However, there is a lot more work that goes into formulating an original piece.

“The way I see it is, even though they are more work, original plays are definitely more personal to every single person in the cast because they all put something into it,” said senior Greg Seage.

A challenge to the cast, as well as writing their own dialogue, is creating their own original characters.

“We don’t have the script or the dialogue ready for us, but as we go through this journey we’re discovering it, and as we’re discovering it, we’re writing it.” said senior Iliana Smalanskas, who will be playing the title character of Alison Grimm.

“There are all these colorful people that we recognize and have their own kind of legend to them,” added von Mering.

For students, original productions are great learning experiences.

“It’s not about me telling them what to do, it’s about all of us moving each other forward and testing what we can do,” said Weingartner.

The show is a fitting way to say goodbye to the Little Theater.

“This play is really addressing how story is part of our lives and how our lives are part of story,” said von Mering. “As this theater’s story is coming to an end, this piece is celebrating story and honoring it.”

Alison Grimm will be performed November 16 through 19 at 7:30PM in the Little Theater.