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A Twist in the Fairy Tale

LU theatre to present ‘Peter Pan,’ Oct. 30-Nov. 10

Pan1
Janai Collins plays Captain Hook. left, and Porter LaPray plays Smee in Lamar University’s production of “Peter Pan,” which runs Oct. 31-Nov. 10 in the University Theatre. UP photo by Maddie Sims

A world of fairies, lost boys, mermaids and pirates lies past the second star to the right. As the story book opens, the classic tale of Peter Pan begins. However, this story is a different tale to the Disney movie. Rather it is derived straight from the source.

Lamar University’s department of theatre and dance will present ‘Peter Pan,’ opening Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lamar University Theatre. Adapted from the classic story by J.M. Barrie, this version of Peter Pan takes a more war-torn edge.

Bailey Jenkins (Peter Pan) said this version of Pan is more likable.

“Apparently, when people play Peter Pan, they don’t make him likable, and they make him too cocky and stuff like that,” he said. “We’re trying to play up the naivety of it, like, ‘Oh, he just doesn’t know.’ This Peter Pan has a bunch of issues that he’s fighting off. He has childhood trauma and it’s him trying to fight that. It’s a lot of fun, and the character is a lot of fun.”

Jenkins said the flying mechanics of the show are slightly different, using swings instead of hooks and harnesses.

“You get on the swing and it lifts you up from the ground,” he said. “So, either we swing it, or people come behind us and hold our feet or push us. When I get Wendy and all her siblings to go to Neverland, there’s that big transition, and we’re leaning into the spectacle of it.

“What I really think is fun is all the hopping and skipping and the nature of it, because it is just like a child. So, I get to play into the, ‘No, I am who I am, and I am captain. And you have to do what I say, because I’m the leader of this imaginary army that I’ve created.’”

Juliana McManus plays Tinkerbell through the use of a puppet.

“This is the first time that I ever puppeteered,” she said. “It’s not what you expect because it looks pretty simple, but I think one of the biggest challenges for me is I’m a very expressive person on stage, and whenever you’re puppeteering, you can’t have a lot of expression. You have to strictly look at your puppet, because whenever the audience watches it, they’re gonna follow your gaze. It’s kind of fun that I get to learn a new skill and it’s fun getting to be sassy.”

McManus said she is not a sassy person, but likes the challenge.

“You don’t really get to just be that as a character — at least, I haven’t,” she said. “I tend to lean in the shadows a little bit, and she is really literally in your face for a lot of her dialogue.”

McManus is double-cast as Tiger Lily, the leader of the wolf pack.

She’s badass,” McManus said. “She’s very headstrong, very cool. I have to do some quick changes, and I have to really separate the voices of what they sound like, to differentiate between the two.”

Porter LaPray plays both Smee and Mr. Darling.

“Smee’s definitely Hook’s little hype man,” he said. “He’s probably not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s a real high-effort guy.

“It’s amazing to go from (Mr. Darling) who is this very prim, proper energy guy who’s the head of the household, to being really grimy and cruel.”

LaPray said this version of Peter Pan gives the audience more of an emotional side to the story.

“I feel like a lot of times, whenever a kid’s theater is approached, you just want to touch the face of emotions, without really going to what’s behind them,” he said. “And here, I think we just do a really good job of honoring everyone’s stories and giving these characters a life that I think the author put into them whenever he wrote them.”

Another difference is the decision to cast a woman, Janai Collins, as Captain Hook.

“When you watch the movie, Captain Hook is like the ‘bad guy,’ but he’s a coward,” Collis said. “In this version, she’s a fearless leader and she’s angry. Her drive to kill Peter Pan is not just like, ‘Oh, because she’s the villain of the story.’ She’s angry at him because he cut Hook’s hand off. I would get pretty angry, too, if someone cut my hand off.”

Collins also plays Mrs. Darling.

“You really get to see the stark contrast between the characters, but also some of the driving factor behind Captain Hook,” she said. “One of the factors of Captain Hook is that she’s like, ‘I want to be a mother,’ so I always find that kind of funny, because I also play the mother, and here I am as another character wishing I was a mother.

“We really leaned into that and like the emotion of having a woman being hated, because that’s not very common. When you see a villain, you mainly think of a man. But having a woman as a villain, we were able to really play around with it and look for the deeper meaning. The great thing is that there is a deeper meaning within the show. It’s not just canons and sword fights.”

Ashley Dennison, who co-directs with Tanner McAlpin, said she looks for shows that have heart and depth.

“This show forces perspective changes in the sense of how you come in with preconceived notions of who you think the characters are,” she said. “My goal as a director was to challenge the audience, and have them walk away from the production thinking, ‘Oh, maybe I got that character wrong. Maybe I misunderstood that character coming in.’

“Tanner is great at creating the overall envisioning of the world, and then what I like to focus on is sharpening the characters within that world. So, the acting has been my main emphasis, how we’re building these characters, what’s driving these characters and how we see them evolve throughout the production.

“I also am a mother of three boys, and so with it being children’s theater, I did try to look at it through the lens of a child of like, ‘What are things that they like and things that they don’t like,’ and just finding that balance.”

McAlpin helped design the set, create the costumes, and make the Tinkerbell puppet. 

“That’s been shuffling the different hats to wear, which has been really fascinating,” he said. “Thank goodness Ashley and I basically share a brain, so that whenever my brain kind of tapers off or has to go do something else, Ashley picks right back up, and then we trade back and forth. It’s been really great.

McAlpin said the vision for the costumes came from an initial idea that the play is in an alternate universe, where World War One was fought with nuclear bombs, and there’s been a fallout, so the Lost Boys have scattered into the woods as this little regiment of quasi army folks. And then everybody else was kind of formed from those choices.”

The Tinkerbell puppet was inspired by a picture of a World War Two mask, McAlpin said.

“I was really fascinated with the shape and with the texture of it,” he said. “Tinker Bell is this wonderful light in Peter’s life, and in different moments we see that light coming through when he needs her most. She’s kind of there for him, even though sometimes he treats her kind of poorly, so that’s where her body came from. We just kind of added all these little elements together until she emerged herself.”

McAlpin said the set is based on a forgotten playground overcome by the jungle after the giant war.

“Everything is kind of overgrown, distressed, dingy, with lots of levels to play on,” he said. “I really wanted to approach this with a sense of adventure and with a sense of fun. I wanted everybody involved in the production and everybody watching the show to feel open to going on this amazing adventure with Peter, Wendy and her brothers. We just tried to add a lot of different artists’ voices, that anyone can bring to the table. Whether it’s dance, acrobatics, vocals, we try to fold that into the story, so that everybody is having their own ideas heard and having a good time doing it.”

Showtimes for “Peter Pan” are 7: 30 p.m., Oct. 31, Nov. 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, and 2 p.m., Nov. 3 and 10.

The show is suitable for children ages 7 and older. Content warnings include fog and possible strobe lighting. 

General admission tickets are $15, $10 for seniors, $7 for students with LU ID, and 5$ for children 12 and under. For tickets, visit lamar.edu/ lutdtix.

Category: Features