Anoushka Ratnarajah has a busy month ahead of her.

The Delta Secondary grad will be performing in a play, one she helped to write, at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival as well as getting ready for a move to the Big Apple for grad school.

The three-woman play is titled Capital, Alice!

"It's kind of a spin on Alice in Wonderland. That's where we got our idea. It's got an anti-capitalist critique of consumer culture," says Ratnarajah, 24. "It basically revolves around this retail worker named Alice, who all three of us play at some point in the show."

She described the one-hour play as an absurdist dark comedy.

Alice, who works at a clothing store in a mall, falls asleep on the job one day and wakes up in a "dream state" version of the shopping centre.

"She goes through and meets all these colourful characters, some of whom are icons of consumer culture," says Ratnarajah. "We took different scenes we thought were interesting and applicable from the Alice in Wonderland narrative and sort of put our own spin on it."

For example Tweedledum and Tweedledee have been transformed into Karl Marx and Adam Smith, two political economists.

Alice "goes through this whole journey and ends up at the trial scene with the Red Queen being our idea of the ideal feminized consumer," she says.

Ratnarajah, who graduated from UBC after six years with degrees in creative writing and women's and gender studies, is also preparing to start grad school in New York.

She'll be going to the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU for an arts politics program.

"I'll be dealing with art and activism, the social responsibility of artists as cultural communicators and whether or not we have an obligation as creative people to work for social justice and things like that. It's pretty exciting," she says.

As for future goals, Ratnarajah says she'd like to stay and work in New York for a few years.

"I love theatre, and that's what I want to concentrate on for the next couple of years. I think theatre has the opportunity to reach people on such an instant and immediate level."

It can also create change in the world and make people think, she says.

"I'd like to do more activist, feminist, politically charged theatre and make it fun. The show we're in right now is a blast. It's dealing with serious stuff but its also very silly. So it's presenting something that's potentially new for people to think about, but in a very accessible way."

Capital, Alice! has an 18 and up rating. It will be staged at Studio 16, 1555 West 7th Ave., Vancouver. The opening performance is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 9 at 8:30 p.m.

Visit www.vancouverfringe.com for more information on the festival or to buy tickets.

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CAPITAL, ALICE! SHOW TIMES

Thursday, Sept. 9, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 11, 1:00 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 12, 9:30 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 16, 6:35 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 18, 5:40 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 19, 3:15 p.m.

All shows are on the stage at Studio 16 (1555 West 7th Ave.)

Tickets are available online at www.vancouverfringe.com.