The Quantum Rabbit Hole: A Look Inside
Upcoming in November is our first theatre performance of the school year, The Quantum Rabbit Hole. What makes this performance special over any other at our school is the fact that it was written in its entirety by a KIS student, Spencer Kim. What follows is an interview with Spencer regarding the play as well as one with Vivienne Kim, one of the lead performers, which will hopefully give you some insight on the show and encourage you to see it. And of course, a big thank you to Spencer and Vivienne for taking the time to do these interviews!
Spencer Kim (G11), Playwright. Vivienne Kim (G10), Actor.
Spencer Kim:
Can you give a brief synopsis of the play in your own words?
The Quantum Rabbit Hole is a story about Alice’s winding journey to find her father in an alternate universe. She must learn to collaborate with alternate universe versions of herself in order to uncover the truth of her father’s disappearance.
What kind of person would enjoy this show? Horror fans? Comedy fans? Romance fans?
That’s an excellent question that I’m surprised it hasn’t been brought up yet. To be honest, while writing the play, I hadn’t really thought of what type of people would enjoy the show, but I rather thought of what aspects of the show might not be appealing to audience members. Aside from that, I wrote what I generally thought would be interesting for myself. In retrospect, I think that fans of thriller and mystery would greatly enjoy this show.
What do you want the audience to take away from this show?
In the very beginning of the writing process I was asked a similar question by Mr. Burnham. Keep in mind, this was a very early brainstorming session before the idea of anything resembling the Quantum Rabbit Hole. I had never really thought of giving moral takeaways to my stories, because my general goal for writing was to entertain the audience. However, the more I share my stories, the more I realize that people find their own meaning in them, and that meaning can be powerful and changing. On the flipside, I grew to recognize that fiction plays a role in teaching moral lessons, and if I were to unintentionally plaster a detrimental or have baked philosophy, it might do more harm than good. If I were to be given a serious platform, I realized I ought to take my message serious thought. I reflected on what I resonated with in the story, and that was of being entangled in family struggles and abusive relationships. I wanted to make a story that would empower a younger me, still caught in the crossfire, while not taking away from the complexity and tragedy of such a domestic situation.
Any general ideas or themes you focused on?
A general theme I explored in this play is that of parenthood and its impact on a child’s transition towards independence. In that sense, I suppose this play can be seen as a coming of age story, though I typically don’t imagine it as such. Another idea I wanted to explore was abuse and the responsibility of family members. These ideas spurned questions such as “How conditional can familial love be?” and “How much does one owe to their family?”, which were explored while writing the play.
I understand that this story was based on the classic story of Alice in Wonderland, how did you differentiate this story from that? What new things did you introduce to be different?
I remember the day that I came up with the concept for what would eventually become The Quantum Rabbit Hole. It was around during my 10th grade Global Studies class, where I was brainstorming ideas for a play in my notebook. I thought about the concept of Multiverse theory, and how travelling between universes would leave a different universe behind. That jumped to the idea of a story where the narrative that follows someone jumping between multiple universes. When I was trying to imagine the means of traversing between universes I believe imagined a wormhole and then I was suddenly struck by “Rabbit Hole”. I jotted it down as it came to me, and I then loosely named my characters after those in the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Looking back, I was really lucky that the original Alice in Wonderland isn’t copyrighted, as I had only realized that after writing the first draft of the play.
Fun fact, the working title of “The Quantum Rabbit Hole” was “Alice in Interdimensional Wonderland” which I scrapped due to being excruciatingly long as well as too on the similar to the book’s title. Name similarities aside, the Quantum Rabbit Hole shares very little with the original book in terms of plot. Rather, Alice in Wonderland paints the mood and atmosphere of the play, as it teeters between childlike wonder and unsettling, unplaceable madness. Additionally, characters who have the same name as those in the original book do not directly mirror their book counterparts; however, they are partially inspired by them. All in all, the Quantum Rabbit Hole was partially inspired by Alice in Wonderland, but the story was not based off the original book.
This is the first time ever in KIS that we had two different productions going on at the same time. What are your thoughts on having two different iterations of the play?
There are a lot of ‘firsts’ for this fall production, which excites and scares me at the same time. As my first foray into original production, I don’t really have a bar to compare it to as a writer; however, when compared to my previous experiences in theater productions, I find that having two casts allows for greater creative exploration for the cast and crew. With two different casts more risks can be taken in creating a distinct interpretation of the script, which allows for each cast and director to give their spin on the work without creating a definitive version. I imagine it will be rather interesting for audiences attending both nights, which I highly encourage, because the slight, subtle changes in each allows one to experience similar lines and scenes in a distinct tone and blocking. As a playwright, I inevitably have my own creative stance of how things ought to be acted, but ultimately from having two versions of the same play, I learned that there is no one definitive version of the play, and that’s okay. If there’s one thing I take out of this experience, I’m glad that more people can contribute to this production, and I am really lucky to have two productions of my play.
Are there any other things that inspired you, besides Alice in Wonderland, of course?
I took some inspiration from the movie 10 Cloverfield Lane, which delivered a creeping suspense through the uncertainty of whether a character is to be trusted. Coupled with a closed environment, I found that this suspense was reflected in the initial acts of the play.
When writing the play, what process did you follow?
I first brainstormed for a few weeks by writing in a notebook. As ideas came and went rather quickly, I carried the notebook around whenever possible. I found that this method of brainstorming really helped with connecting and developing ideas, as I could always stem and link ideas off one another from my previous notes. Many ideas were one or two lined concepts such as “Crusaders history Summarized” or “Play about D&D?”, but some ideas catch fire and spark lines or even pages of exploration. Over a few weeks I had generated about four developed ideas for a play, two of which I thought were really promising. I then created demos for the two promising play ideas, each about ten pages, which I then showed to Mr. Burnham. The more promising play idea, in my eyes, was a story I called “Atlus”, an eighty days around the world kind of story set in the 1920s and with planes. The shaky, but intriguing alternative was what I called “Alice in Interdimensional Wonderland”, about a teenage scientist who loses her dad in a lab accident and then goes to another dimension to find him (the plot has greatly changed since then). To my surprise, Mr. Burnham liked the Alice play idea, and encouraged me to go with that one, saying that it matched what he would like for the atmosphere and tone of the play. I was given about a month to write the first draft, though he was lenient if it took longer. I wrote the first draft of the play in about three weeks, the last week being the bulk of it. I wrote more to complete sixty pages rather than prioritizing a compelling and consistent narrative, thus my writing routine was based off arbitrary page counts. It was a simple and powerful motivator to see the page count increase, but I realize now that it’s a very hollow practice. Still, I was able to finish the first draft, and I received my first batch of constructive criticism for the next two months. I really procrastinated on revising during this time, as I felt overwhelmed by all the flaws in the first draft. I had considered it one of the worst creative script I had ever written, which wasn’t a lot, but still I wound myself up in a blanket of self pity and dread. I was motivated to revise the play by Ms. Asad, Mr. Burnham, Bee, and Mr. Gagnier. I finished my second draft on the last day of 10th grade, so I could give it to Mr. Gagnier before he left KISJ. It was less to get his critique, and more to be able to share this project with him. The second draft was the most challenging draft I have ever written, but I am proud to have gotten through it, because that was the largest and most significant milestone in revising the play. The third draft was written over summer, and I tried to write about five to seven pages in each writing session daily, but that went about as successful as an exercise New Year’s Resolution. In reality I wrote in massive spikes with days wide valleys. One day I would write about seven to ten pages and then for the next three or four days I would only write about two pages. Repeat this process for about five weeks, and I finished the third draft. Then I met with Mr. Burnham to write the final draft, which was flexible to change but cemented in terms of plot and character. He helped me develop the character and their main flaws and mentalities, fleshing them out overall. The fourth draft went fairly smoothly as it had minimal story changes except for the third act ending. In terms of my writing routine, I typically write at my bedroom desk or the dining room table, and I use digital script writing software on my mac to format the play. I’ve experimented with listening to music while writing, but I generally find it distracts me more than anything. When I feel inspired, I don’t allow myself to be distracted in any sense, which may result in me neglecting going outside with friends or eating at the correct time if it means another half hour of writing. I don’t have to do this often, and I encourage people to eat at the proper hour, but I choose to write out an idea first, even if sloppily, than to have it fly by.
Spencer’s Notebook.
Do you have any plans to write more plays for our school?
If I can, yes, but I would also be happy for another student to take up the reigns of playwright while I am here at KISJ. If students can write plays in the future, then that means I’ve done my job right. Regardless, I am going to continue writing scripts and will share them with peers and teachers in order to improve my craft. While this play is one of my proudest work, I recognize that I have much more to learn about creative writing.
Finally, if it doesn’t reveal anything, what are you most excited for audiences to see in the Quantum Rabbit Hole?
I think audiences will really enjoy Beth’s first major scene, as it will really take them off guard with how it’ll be presented.
Personally speaking, I’m most excited to see the cast bows. That was always one of my favorite moments as an actor, the excitement and sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a performance. To see the elation of my friends and share pride in their performance that took months of dedication, that is what I am most excited for.
Vivienne Kim:
Without revealing too much, can you give a brief rundown of your character?
For this play, I play a character called Alice. She has a sassy and spoiled personality because her father is rich and she lives a wealthy life. However, she is a girl who wishes to spend time with her father more than anything, to receive love and care from her family.
In what ways do you think you are similar and can relate to your character? In what ways are you two different?
Well, when I first saw my character, I did relate to her in a way because of her sassy personality and how confident she is. I really liked that she was always straight forward with her opinions because that’s a trait that I can relate to. However, we are different in a way as she didn’t really get the love and attention she needed from family, when that’s something I’ve never experienced before. And obviously we are different in other ways too, such as life experiences because I don’t think I’ll ever get a chance to travel to an alternate universe to meet my other self like she did.
What do you like about your character? Dislike?
I loved that she was a character that I could relate to. Her personality is something that I loved so much since the beginning when I signed up to audition for this play. It felt the most right, the role that would be natural for me to get into character. There’s not something in particular that I disliked about this character but if I have to say that I had something that was new for me about acting Alice, is that she goes through a vast range of emotions because of the experiences that she’s going through. That’s not a bad thing, I know but she’s helping me try out different styles of acting that I’ve never tried before.
What process did you take to develop your characterization and performance of Alice?
There was and still is a lot of work that I am trying to perform to develop my character and be the perfect Alice I could be for this performance. I try to practice a lot about who she is as a person and analyze what emotion and personality she portrays for each scene. I also ask other members of the cast or our director to confirm what emotions and actions she takes in certain scenes. Actually, it is quite funny to see how I’m trying to understand and be the character Alice so much that it feels like we are basically the same person.
I understand that there are multiple Alices in this story, how did you make sure to stand out and differentiate yourself from them?
Well, there are multiple Alices in this story but they are quite different from one another. I try to stand out from the multiple Alices by trying my best to be ‘my’ Alice. She is quite a unique soul who has her own personality and because each Alice would have a different reaction and opinion for each situation, I try to be different by trying my best to always be the personality of the Alice that I am playing.
What other challenges have you faced while acting the role? How did you overcome them?
While acting this role, I’ve gone through a lot of experience and out of them, there are challenges that I have faced too. One of them would be that I needed to know and understand more emotions. For example, if I need to cry and act out the dread of losing a loved one, I didn’t really know how much pain that was because I’ve never experienced it before. However, I am starting to realize that you don’t really need to experience and go through every single feeling and action to know how to act out the emotion. I’m working with Bee, Mr.Burnham and all of our other cast members to get advice on how to act a certain emotion and practice together to perform a better performance.
If it’s spoiler-free, what’s your favourite line?
Actually, it’s quite funny because my favourite lines are the ones that I acted out for the audition. Some of you may already know what those lines were but for the ones that do not know, these were the lines:
“People hate being around me, so I’m sorry that I’m so immature and spoiled, and selfish and stupid. You’re right, I am privileged, and I didn’t have to grow up like you did. I hate myself, but I- I just don’t know how to change, okay?”
GO WATCH THE SHOW!!!
Once again, a big thank you to both Spencer and Vivienne who took the time to answer these questions! They gave some great in-depth insight on the show and the process, as well as the sheer amount of work that was put into it. The Quantum Rabbit Hole’s performances are on November 14th and 15th, so make sure you don’t miss it!