Tony award-winning Play Peter and the Starcatcher Premiers at UC Davis’ Wright Hall
A production of “Peter and the Starcatcher,” the Tony Award-winning prequel to classic children’s story Peter Pan, will premier at the UC Davis Main Theater, Wright Hall on Thursday and is co-directed by heavy-hitters in the theater community, Mindy Cooper and Toby Sedgwick.
Based on the 2004 children’s book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, the play was adapted for the stage by Rick Elice, with music by Wayne Barker. The plot chronicles the story of an orphan boy played by Folsom native Nate Challis, his mates, and a plucky young girl named Molly played by Katie Halls as they set off from Victorian England on a ship with a trunk containing a mystery substance, guarded in a familiarly sinister captain’s cabin.
“I think for Peter Pan aficionados, the play is a delightful romp and for people who don’t really know Peter Pan, it’s still a really fun story,” Cooper said.
Cooper, a UC Davis professor of theater and dance and a 35-year Broadway veteran, was drawn to the production because she found opportunity to encourage her students to push themselves in new directions.
“Part of what I love to do with the students on campus is challenge them,” Cooper said. “Our theaters are our classrooms.”
Cooper said she chose the piece because she wanted to play with gender. The play was originally written for 11 men and one woman, but because women typically outnumber men in theater departments, Cooper likes to cast women in roles intended for men.
“It felt so right to do this at UC Davis which is sort of a ground zero for gender-forward thinking,” Cooper said. “We’ve embraced it here as sort of gender-bending and playing with gender.”
Cooper also recruited London-based director of movement and choreographer Toby Sedgwick to co-direct the production as the Grenada Artist in Residence at UC Davis.
“I knew having someone of Toby’s prowess would be an amazing jump forward for everyone,” Cooper said. “He has been so integral in getting the story in the actors’ bodies. “
“It’s funny, there’s a lot of funny moments,” Sedgwick said of the play. “The script allows for a lot of physical humor, and Mindy and I have found it.”
According to Sedgwick, Peter and the Starcatcher allows the actors to experiment with movement and create a changing sense of space and physicality without elaborate sets.
“In England you would call it “poor theater,” where you create situations out of nothing using the actors’ physicality,” Sedgwick said. “Mindy and I are very interested in taking in the audience’s imagination, we suggest certain things and the audience imagines that environment.”
Nate Challis stars as The Boy in the production. A senior at UC Davis majoring in communications, Challis, 22, said he relates with a character who never wants to grow up, as he is on the precipice of entering the workforce and considering what it means to be a “grown-up” himself.
“The biggest thing I want people to take away from this show is that you can grow up and not be a grown-up,” Challis said. “We feel like a grown-up in this show is someone who is oppressive, who objectifies, or subjugates individuals, and we feel like being a kid means being hopeful and having that sense of wonder about them.”
According to Challis, Peter and the Starcatcher explores how to maintain a sense of child-like wonder and hope while navigating what it means to cross the threshold between childhood and adulthood.
The show is recommended for children of all ages, including adults.
If you go
Peter and the Starcatcher
Where: Wright Hall, UC Davis
When: 7 p.m. Feb. 27; 7 p.m. Feb. 28; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Feb. 29; 7 p.m. March 5; 7 p.m. March 6; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. March 7
Cost: $12 to $18.50
Tickets: https://arts.ucdavis.edu/seasonal-event/peter-and-starcatcher or at 530- 752-2471