playbill vip

Director’s Note:

Peter and the Starcatcher may be considered a prequel to J.M.Barrie's beloved classic Peter Pan, but it is an original story, with eternal themes.  The play explores what it means to be a leader: it encourages us to be brave, to stand up and fight for what we believe in, even against impossible odds.  When I saw this play on Broadway in 2012, I found it thrilling, moving, funny and poignant. Beyond offering a creative take on how “the boy who wouldn’t grow up” came to be, the play is also about theatre itself, about how we make and tell stories, about collaboration and community, about imagination and fantasy.   The process of rehearsing this play took us back to our childhoods, when we played without self consciousness, where ordinary items can become the stuff of dreams.

Rick Elice, the author of the play, offers this backstory:

“….we wanted to make sure the play would reflect what all of us love most about the theater – a sense of being part of something bigger than yourself. Community. I remember when Sheldon Harnick, the wonderful lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof, came to see Peter. Fiddler was one of the first shows I saw as a kid – and I finally got to tell Mr. Harnick what I loved most about it. It was the powerful, visual way it showed the strength of community. The very first time the people of Anatevka appear, they form a circle. Then, at the end of the show, when they’re forced to leave their homes, they meet once more in a circle, and then, one by one, they depart, and the circle is broken. And we know it’s the end of something. I share this with you because we did the opposite with this play. We begin with a mob of actors center stage, a community waiting to happen, and we end with those same people, back with a purpose – to lift Peter up in flight. And we know it’s the beginning of something.”

I hope as you watch this play, you are transported back to your own childhoods.  I hope, too, that you might consider Elice’s words about the strength of community, and the power of the community to lift up those who need it most.  

Please enjoy the performance.

''Time is Chasing after All of Us."

J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan