Cheshire Cat embraces puppet acting

The mystery of Wonderland is expected to spark curiosity through the characteristics of the taunting Cheshire Cat.

Tootsie West, who will play the cat in MHCC’s adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland,” enjoys “being a little snippy” when she portrays the cat’s attitude. “I ask her [Alice] questions and I patronize her a little bit,” said West, “to make her excited about Wonderland. Not really excited, but just more curious.”

West was cast as the Cheshire Cat because she was open to the challenge of acting with a puppet. “Some people were not open to it because it’s a puppet and they don’t like acting with puppets.

“Alice talks to the cat, not me, but I’m acting as if I was the cat, and I walk as if I’m the cat and I have to disappear and then reappear every now and then.”

She sees acting with a puppet as a learning experience. “It’s fun cause it’s more challenging,” but she said sometimes she finds it stressful.

The puppet is the cat’s face with a mouth that West can move. She said her costume is just the cat’s head which is connected to “a belt and then there’s this metal thing that comes out and this stick that holds the whole thing.”

Most of the cast members play props, as well as characters. West plays a table leg, a mushroom, a card and a door. “I like that I am so many different things. I think it’s really fun that I get to be on stage and be every different thing.”

West’s favorite scenes are the ones that involve a group of characters. “I usually tend to like the group numbers, in musicals or in plays. When everyone’s on stage together, it’s really good energy,” she said.

West started acting as a child when her mother would put her into shows. She stopped for a few years, but got back into it when she was in eighth grade and has been acting since. She has acted with MHCC for a year and said she prefers musicals to straight plays.

She said acting has enriched her life and made her “more open to new things, more accepting of others, more understanding, more outgoing and willing to accept if they’re wrong or not. It made me understand people more,” she said. “Everyone should do it.”

West believes that everyone can benefit from acting. “Everyone should be in at least one show in their life,” she said. “I feel like everyone needs to be more accepting of everybody.”

After “Alice in Wonderland,” West said she is looking forward to performing in MHCC’s winter production of “Footloose.”