Playbill | From the director

We’ve had more than a hundred years of Peter Pan.

Peter began his adventures as a magical toddler making mischief in Kensington Gardens before his popularly inspired Scottish writer J.M. Barrie to pen Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up which premiered on the West End in 1904. Most of us know that Peter Pan and the Lost Boys are perpetually young but the plays, novels, films, and other references are all interested in children on the cusp of becoming adults. Wendy, Michael, and John Darling the ordinary children who are whisked away to Neverland in the tale. The Peter-Wendy relationship was so intriguing that Barrie spent an entire novel exploring it.

Peter and Wendy in turn inspired young adult novelists Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson to write Peter and the Starctachers, the first of the Never Land books, in 2004. In 2011, Rick Elice adapted the novel for the stage. It premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse, then moved to off-Broadway, then Broadway for nine months, then back to off-Broadway before opening to regional productions. And that brings us to the production before you!

I was introduced to Peter Pan through Disney, as many of us were, but I also remember watching the wire work of both Mary Martin and Cathy Rigby on television in the late ’70s. One of my favorite sequels to the story was Steven Spielberg’s 1991 film Hook with Robin Williams playing a Peter who had forgotten his childhood and was mired in grim adult life until he is thrust back into battle with Dustin Hoffman as the dastardly Captain Hook. So, there’s a lot of unpacking to do with all the versions and inspirations embedded in this play.

When we first began working on this production in the spring of 2020 in anticipation of the TheatreFEST season, we struggled with how to build a world that encompassed two ships with a dozen different rooms or decks; an island with mountaintops, jungles, grottos, and beaches; and the open ocean.

We were beginning the discussions about libraries when the Pandemic shuttered the production and canceled TheatreFEST for two years. It’s been exciting to return to this project after that long incubation period. The library concept had morphed into an attic, one of those grand attics from a big old house, and the Victorian era, where the story is set, had become the late 30s/ early 40s during Operation Pied Piper where hundreds of thousands of Brits were evacuated to the safer countryside.

We imagined a gaggle of children, orphaned by the war, struggling to entertain themselves in a big dusty attic with the stories they most loved to tell. Jayme Mellema created a glorious warren of spaces to be explored. Laura Parker imagined uniform clad children pulling out whatever they can find from boxes and bins and then building armor and pirate regalia and the like. In both areas, we have benefited from the wild collections and generous gifts from our donors.

The old phrase, “it takes a village” could not be more true with this production.

Joshua Reaves, Eric Collins, and Kevin Wright swooped in to pull this wonderfully strange land- and soundscape together. Katherine Anderson, our music director, with Rebecca Farlow, bring traditional accompaniment along with the whimsy of breaking wind and fairy flights. Heather Strickland, fight goddess, has staged fourteen different moments with these incredible actors using found objects and willing spirits. Danica Jackson’s workshop and weekly actor coaching radically changed the dialects of these actors and created the eclectic vocal geography of the show. Dave Jensen and Mike White built the most rompable set I’ve ever had the privilege to work upon and Adrienne McKenzie’s embroidered and embellished a field of fabric in the costume shop.

We’ve also been incredibly gifted with the work of two student assistant directors, Daija Blaise and Gabby Morris, and the Mermaid choreography of Brandon Leach. And that doesn’t address the countless students onstage, acting as understudies (swings), backstage, and in the shops.

I’m overwhelmed at the breadth of work that makes Peter and the Starcatcher possible. Thank you for sharing your experience with us in the ever-vital role of audience.

Mia Self
Director, Peter and the Starcatcher

Listen to director Mia Self on WHUP-FM’s Lights Up! with host Wayne Leonard.