Everyone knows the famous story of Peter Pan, the boy who ventured to Neverland with Wendy and Tinker Bell in the childhood favorite movie, but most are not familiar with the marauding backstory of the orphan.
Peter and the Starcatcher, originally conceived for the stage by Rick Elice, upends the story of how the infamous Peter Pan came to be. The play follows a young orphan and his friends from Norbert’s Home for Wayward Boys as they are put on a ship and pulled into an adventure trying to save a valuable chest of treasure.
Through exploring the depths of greed and despair , the play has the audience in for a treat, this weekend the theater department will be performing this for their annual fall play.
Students have been working tirelessly to perfect their performance in “Peter and the Starcatcher” for this weekend. Senior Rachel Haagsma is playing Peter Pan, the lead role in the show, and feels that this year’s play tells a fascinating story.
“I think it holds a strong message, it’s Peter Pan’s origin story. With Peter Pan he just wants to be by himself and he’s very narcissistic and he doesn’t want to do anything that anyone says,” Haagsma said. “Early on in life you can see what made him like that and what made him have that personality type.”
Along with her interest in the story she is conveying, Haagsma is excited to perform for the first time in a lead role. Haagsma has been a long time member of the theater department and has performed with school plays and musicals since her freshman year.
“It’s exciting to embody an actual character instead of just being a part of the ensemble,” Haagsma said. “Having relationships as the character and having more personality than just in an ensemble is really cool to me.”
In choosing this year’s production, director Phoebe Dawson took multiple things into consideration. One of the main focuses was performing a play that felt authentic and real to the audience.
“I got to pick the play, and I was very excited. I had mulled over a couple different options and gone through a few plays,” Dawson said. “This one just stuck out to me a lot because it was goofy, it was funny, it was whimsical and it’s a show that has the heart to it and the authenticity with human interaction. It still has the musicality of the Disney vibe that we all know and love. It’s very heartwarming and musical, magical, and goofy.”
Something that sticks out about this show is that it is the prequel of a well known childhood story, but told in a different way. Dawson was entranced with the fairytale aspect of the show.
“We’re told [Peter Pan] through stories, movies, musicals, books, we’re told that through so many different platforms,” Dawson said. “But we never talk about how they got there in the first place so I think the cool thing about this show is that they get to play those characters that we know and love but they get to play them discovering themselves and becoming who they are and who they want to be.”
Dawson wanted to help her actors grow through this play in several different aspects.
“A huge challenge to the cast is that they have to play so many different characters,” Dawson said. “They’re a main character but they’re also an orphan, a pirate, a sailor, even a mermaid. They go back and forth between all these different things so that’s a challenge with knowing how to develop multiple characters.”
The theater department’s exploration of the intricate backstory while putting on a great show leads to an extensive amount of work behind the scenes. Senior Joachim Gage plays a leading role and believes the cast has improved over the past few weeks and is now more confident in their show.
“In the beginning the rehearsals were going just not at the pace we liked so a lot of people got stressed. Later on the rehearsals went really fast and everyone started to stop stressing and enjoy what they were performing,” Gage said.
Dawson feels that the cast’s dedication is unmatched when it comes to committing to the show.
“Rehearsals have been going good. We’ve gotten to go into character work, line work and there’s even choreography so we’ve had choreography rehearsals. We’ve had music rehearsals since there’s singing in the show as well,” Dawson said. “It’s been busy rehearsals, there’s a lot of movement for everybody and it’s very wordy, but my favorite part of rehearsals so far has just been working with everybody. Even though it’s a busy season, all of the cast has brought their A-game.”
Something that the cast is collectively enjoying about Peter and the Starcatcher is the humor involved. This play is one with unique comedy and light entertainment, which makes performing it more fun for everyone involved.
“This play is super funny and filled with magical jokes. I am super excited for the look on peoples faces when they see or hear the whimsical jokes that happen on stage,” Gage said.
The cast also hopes to make the audience feel engaged as they are throughout the show.
“People should come and see [Peter and the Starcatcher] because it’s a very funny and whimsical show. It will definitely make you laugh once or twice. We have put months of hard work in and out of rehearsal to make sure the audience enjoys this show, so don’t leave us hanging,” Gage said.
The theater department will be performing this evening, November 8, at 7:30 p.m. and tomorrow, November 9, for a matinee at 3 p.m. Come by to support the young thespians and watch the story unfold.
