DIRECTOR'S NOTES
PETER AND THE STARCATCHER is a prequel to the popular Peter Pan legend as invented by J.M. Barrie and made iconic by Disney, countless movies (Hook, Finding Neverland, Peter Pan), and several stage musicals and plays. Many of the older members of the audience are probably familiar with the iconic Mary Martin version with songs like "I Won't Grow Up," "Neverland," and "I Gotta Crow." The musical version was recently re-made for television on NBC Live, and there is even a rarely-produced Leonard Bernstein's musical. What makes this play different from other adaptions is that it is told in the style of Story Theatre, otherwise known as "Poverty Theatre," in which the actors play multiple roles and use minimal costumes, sets and props to tell a story. This forces YOU, the audience, to use your imaginations to "hoist the sails" and journey with the actors through this story. Much like reading a book, the audience must supply many of the details themselves, making believe that ropes are doors and hallways, boxes are the deck of a ship, pieces of fabric are rolling waves, and that stuffed animals and actors are flying. The entire group of actors, audience members and crew collaborates in creating magic together in two-and-a-half hours. "To have faith is to have wings."
One of the most exciting parts of doing PETER AND THE STARCATCHER here at Wooster has been working with Humanities classes in 8th, 9th and 10th grade. This fall, I had the opportunity to collaborate with faculty in lessons that connected the play withs subjects they are studying in class. With 8th grade students learned about script-writing and created their own prequel scenes to the Peter Pan Story. 9th and 10th grade Humanities classes explored the dynamics of Class and Power in Victorian England through the lens of the characters in PETER AND THE STARCATCHER. This was a wonderful way to include all of the students in the magic of theatre and it also deepened our cast's understanding of the times in which this play takes place.
There are several other interesting themes in STARCATCHER that make it an important and relevant piece of theatre today, such as gender identity and the role of women and children. In the original Broadway production of STARCATCHER, the only female in the cast was the actor playing Molly - all of the other roles were played by males, even Mrs. Bumbrake and Teacher. This was meant to highlight the "other-ness" of being a girl in Victorian society. In our production, having actors play roles of different genders than we are used to seeing portrayed in traditional theatre further highlights the celebration of "Pan, or all-ness" that is a central idea in this play. Similarly, we made a choice to use accents in specific ways - the orphans Peter, Ted and Prentiss all have American accents to further separate them from the rest of British society.
PETER AND THE STARCATCHER is a play about self-discovery, finding home, and connection - the friends who make "a different sort of family." Above all, PETER is a play about connection - "You need to connect, Pan," Black Stache says when he first meets Peter. What more important and necessary work can we do right now than to remind us all of our inter-connectedness?
This play has been an absolute joy to work on from start to finish. I would like to extend a special thank-you to Keith Henderson for his heroic work on this play, for always saying "yes," for believing in the vision, and for his tireless work towards our common goal.
Thank you to the cast and crew for trusting us and for taking gigantic leaps of faith and for making me and each other laugh every day..
To my seniors: Alli, Ben, Alex and Charlie. Thank you for your leadership and your awesomeness on- and off-stage.
Thank you to all of the parents and to the entire Wooster community for giving us an audience again.
It's so good to be back.
Claire Simard
