The story of “Alice in Wonderland” is a popular one that’s been adapted countless times.

But not many know about Lewis Carroll’s second Alice book, “Through the Looking Glass.” In this story, Alice once again finds herself in a different world, but this time, instead of Wonderland, her story is set on a chessboard.

UCLA alumnus Craig Jessen, who studied playwriting in the theater department, began writing an adaptation of this second story while he was a student two years ago in an adaptation class.

On Saturday, his adaptation, “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” will premiere at the Attic Theatre and will feature familiar characters such as the Mad Hatter, Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

Although characters from the first Alice book will be appearing, “Through the Looking Glass” is an entirely different adventure. In the story, Alice falls through a mirror called the looking glass and becomes a pawn on a chessboard. Jessen’s play follows her journey as she tries to make it to the eighth square to become a queen.

In comparison to “Alice in Wonderland,” Jessen said that “Through the Looking Glass” has a stronger narrative arc.

“From a theatrical point of view, the second book lends better to the stage because in the first book, the elastic element is size. Things get bigger and smaller. In (the play), time is the elastic element, so that’s much easier to communicate on stage,” Jessen said.

Although the Attic Theatre is considered small and the stage is a minimalist set, with a black, flat board depicting a chessboard on the stage, Jessen said the play transports primarily through costume.

According to Jessen, he was drawn to the story of “Through the Looking Glass” while he was a student at UCLA because he was interested in doing something that was on the edge of children’s theater that still appealed to him as an adult.

“At the heart of it, as young adults, we’re striving for autonomy; we’re trying to be grown-ups,” Jessen said. “That’s expressed through metaphor. Alice’s journey is one of trying to become a queen so she can stop following rules and start making rules, and ultimately in the book and the play, it becomes (too) much and ends with the idea that it’s OK to enjoy childhood a bit longer.”

Angela Ryskiewicz, who plays Alice, said that her role is creative because it allows her to use her imagination.

“I see a lot of similarities between me and Alice. I was definitely a tomboy and had a big imagination, so bringing it to life has been fun because it brings me back to when I was a kid. … The moral is to allow yourself to be like a child and have that imagination and that creativity that comes with that,” Ryskiewicz said.

Marcel Torres plays Tweedledum, a character with whom Alice comes into contact countless times throughout the play. In Jessen’s play, Torres plays a total of seven characters: Tweedledum, the Beamish Boy, the Red Knight, the Father, the Rose, the Carpenter and the Gnat.

He said that Tweedledum’s character has a lot of range to explore on the stage.

“With Angela, we’re bouncing back and forth, it’s a bit of a play on the obnoxious boys that you read about in the poem, but we’re finding so many new elements to bring in. … Sometimes, it even takes a dramatic turn and it gets chaotic,” Torres said.

The play shifts in and out of different styles of comedy, ranging from linguistic comedy to silly, physical slapstick comedy. Ryskiewicz said it’s a good mix between children’s theater and the kind of surreal British comedy exemplified by the group, Monty Python.

“(The show) is family friendly, but it’s not a children’s show. It doesn’t talk down to audience. … I’d like audiences to come away with sore stomachs from laughing,” Jessen said.