Grab a friend and some pixie dust, because this spring, a talented cast and crew of SHS students will be flying us to Neverland as they put on “Peter and Wendy,” an adaptation of the beloved classic, “Peter Pan.”
Junior Miles Heritsch— who will be playing the role of Peter Pan in this year’s spring play— teased many artistic and creative twists the cast has taken compared to the original story that many are familiar with.
“There is a lot of narration in our version,” Heritsch said. “There is a role in the play, the storytellers, that are kind of the focus and are orchestrating the whole story. It’s not your typical straightforward storyline, but as we’re putting it all together, I think it will pay off.”
Iconic characters such as Wendy, Tinkerbell, Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, and Peter Pan will all be featured throughout the play, and portrayed by many more SHS actors. Those in major roles include Piper Grant as the wonderful Wendy, Alley Parks as the temperamental Tinkerbell, and Kyle Gibson as the crafty Captain Hook.
“It’s also interesting what we did with Mr. Smee,” Heritsch said. “They actually split the role into two characters, between Santiago Fitzgibbon and Anton Royko, because they both read the lines for Smee so well.”
The audition process was fairly new to all cast members, Heritsch said, because it differs from year to year.
“We actually didn’t prepare anything for the auditions,” Heritsch said. “Unlike the fall musicals where you prepare your audition material, with screenplays we just showed up and they gave us a script and we went from there.”
Heritsch explained that when they arrived, their Director, DeeDee Bouzek, handed them different two-person scenes, and had them randomly partner up with a peer. After running through the script, they performed them for Bouzek, who randomly assigned each auditionee a character to run through lines as. They went through this process several times, each becoming more specific and narrowing down on which characters suited each person auditioning.
While the audition process may seem chaotic, it yielded great results, and the cast has now progressed to rehearsing for the opening night.
“We always start out practice by running through [the script],” Heritsch said. “Then we take it a few pages at a time and block it out and show where we are going.”
Blocking is a term used in theater to describe the actors’ location on stage and their movements. For Heritsch, this has been the most difficult part of putting the play together.
“The storyline isn’t always straightforward, so often the stage directions are hard,” Heritsch said. “For example, there are a lot of points where the ensemble will just be waiting around the edges of the stage.”
At this time, the play is still a work in progress, but the cast is putting in countless practices and rehearsals to elevate the spring play.
One scene Heritsch is especially excited about is an impromptu dance performance, which is an addition to the screenplay. It is extra special to him because he choreographed it.
“I did the choreography with Tobie Bluel,” Heritsch said. “The dance is to ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson, so it’s definitely something […] that stands out to me.”
All you need is faith, trust, and a little pixie dust… and to buy your tickets to this year’s spring play, “Peter and Wendy.” Opening night is April 11 at 7 p.m. There are also two following 7 p.m. shows on April 12 and 13. This year’s cast would love to see you in the crowd as they travel past the second star to the right and straight on ‘til Neverland!