Peter Pan at Quad City Music Guild
It occurred to me that I never once posted in Livejournal this past summer about Peter Pan. I wonder why that evaded me. Maybe because I was too busy taking two weeks to finish entries about my Chicago Cubs trip in June, or the storm that destroyed our porch days before Peter Pan opened.
I played Cecco the Pirate in Quad City Music Guild's production of Peter Pan, running July 12th-14th, and July 18th-21st.
Peter Pan for me was, true to the nature of the piece, an opportunity for me to try to relive my childhood years. As Meet Me in St. Louis was a chance for me to get caught up with what I had missed in my teenage years and twenties because I had my head in a book or on the computer, Peter Pan brought me back to the childhood that also (tongue planted in cheek) was somewhat robbed by the inundation of homework from 3rd grade on up. For those not familiar with the story of Peter Pan, it starts with Wendy, John, and Michael Darling. Their parents are dressing for a party. They leave the dog in charge as the nanny. It's J.M. Barrie, so he takes some cool artistic liberties like that. Enter Peter Pan, coming to reclaim the shadow he left behind. He tells the kids about Neverland, a land of pirates, indians, and lost boys. The lost boys never have to grow up. But the downside of that, of course, is growing up without a mother. Peter hopes he can bring Wendy there to be his mother. Now, there were points during the play when it was almost hinted that Peter Pan and Wendy might be romantic. In spite of thefact they had a female playing Wendy (Autumn Loose, so great), and a female playing Peter Pan, the chemistry between the two as a young female and a young male worked. It worked well.
The part of Peter Pan was played by Sarah Lounsberry. Sarah did a great job with the character. This must have been a difficult play to cast across the board for Beth Marsoun. Take into account the other possible Peter Pans you might have had. Lauren VanSpeybroeck auditioned, and she was given the part of Tiger Lilly. My friend Rowan Crowe auditioned, and she was awesome as Amahl in Amahl and the Night Visitors a year ago at Augustana. I may have gone into the play with my own visions for how Peter Pan might have been played. But I was very satisfied to find that Sarah Lounsberry was more than qualified for the part.
It just so happened that I was finishing Gregor the Overlander, reading Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane and starting Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods between my audition for Peter Pan and our last performance of the show. So there was a childlike spirit in my undertaking a part in this production. It was uncanny how the children seemed to gravitate towards me back stage. I didn't go out of my way to corral them. But I had started working on this story called Superman's Back! in a green notebook. First Logan Ewing, then William Rudzinski, then Nora Rudzinski, then Madison Crumbleholme, then Carson Heath, Quincy Keele, Katie Makleust, Andrew Clark, Joie Stoeffen, and almost all of the lost boys got swept up in helping me write this little epic. Then there was Claire Rittenhouse. Claire and I became friends when she saw I was a fan of The Hunger Games. She had read the books, and we wound up having a five minute conversation about how Gregor the Overlander had certain carry-over Suzanne Collins traits to The Hunger Games. I was reading Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods. She hadn't read the Gregor the Overlander series yet, but when I explained how the aspect of siding with your opposition (Finnick Odair/Johanna Mason compare to Ripred), protecting a younger sister (Prim-Boots), and a strong protagonist being a chosen warrior (Gregor-Katniss), it was clear she was engaged in my description. She went on to recommend the Divergent series by Veronica Roth.
I wound up buying Divergent from Books a Million. I read it beginning July 20th and completed it by September 30th. Claire was a very interesting person. One thing that was significant about her was she pulled me aside almost every night to remind me what a great job I was doing. I thought that was the pot calling the kettle black. She was one of the Indians. Their dance with the Ug-a-Wug was dazzling. It was amazing to see all of their arm and leg movement, completely in unison. The pirates, well, we had the Tarantella and the Tango. And while we did have those choreographed, we were allowed to mess up a little. I found it remarkable that a girl from the cast who was such a great actor and dancer would take time out of the reherasal and performance nights to give attention to me. It made me think of Gabby during Meet Me in St. Louis. Getting back to Music Guild and doing theatre again has been great. Working with Meet Me in St. Louis alumnus Livvie Lyman, and It's a Wonderful Life veteran Sophia Pike, and all of the new children was a thrill. I found myself still working on Superman's Back! for weeks after Peter Pan wrapped. It was sad when I came to the point where I took a break from that story. I realized the inspiration of the children was what prompted me to work on Peter Pan six pages at a stretch. It wasn't the same trying to draw up ideas without them. Whenever I run into one of the kids from Peter Pan, I find myself right back in the summer of 2013, discussing with them the progress on the story, it's present status, and the ideas I have as to where to proceed from here. Add to everything mentioned Mike Millar, Tom Naab, Harold Truitt, Tim Dominicus, Adam Lounsberry, Edward Sierra Lee, Jeanine Link, Murphy Bolt, and all of the great new friends I made doing this show, Peter Pan was a wonderful experience that stayed with me for weeks.
I played Cecco the Pirate in Quad City Music Guild's production of Peter Pan, running July 12th-14th, and July 18th-21st.
Peter Pan for me was, true to the nature of the piece, an opportunity for me to try to relive my childhood years. As Meet Me in St. Louis was a chance for me to get caught up with what I had missed in my teenage years and twenties because I had my head in a book or on the computer, Peter Pan brought me back to the childhood that also (tongue planted in cheek) was somewhat robbed by the inundation of homework from 3rd grade on up. For those not familiar with the story of Peter Pan, it starts with Wendy, John, and Michael Darling. Their parents are dressing for a party. They leave the dog in charge as the nanny. It's J.M. Barrie, so he takes some cool artistic liberties like that. Enter Peter Pan, coming to reclaim the shadow he left behind. He tells the kids about Neverland, a land of pirates, indians, and lost boys. The lost boys never have to grow up. But the downside of that, of course, is growing up without a mother. Peter hopes he can bring Wendy there to be his mother. Now, there were points during the play when it was almost hinted that Peter Pan and Wendy might be romantic. In spite of thefact they had a female playing Wendy (Autumn Loose, so great), and a female playing Peter Pan, the chemistry between the two as a young female and a young male worked. It worked well.
The part of Peter Pan was played by Sarah Lounsberry. Sarah did a great job with the character. This must have been a difficult play to cast across the board for Beth Marsoun. Take into account the other possible Peter Pans you might have had. Lauren VanSpeybroeck auditioned, and she was given the part of Tiger Lilly. My friend Rowan Crowe auditioned, and she was awesome as Amahl in Amahl and the Night Visitors a year ago at Augustana. I may have gone into the play with my own visions for how Peter Pan might have been played. But I was very satisfied to find that Sarah Lounsberry was more than qualified for the part.
It just so happened that I was finishing Gregor the Overlander, reading Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane and starting Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods between my audition for Peter Pan and our last performance of the show. So there was a childlike spirit in my undertaking a part in this production. It was uncanny how the children seemed to gravitate towards me back stage. I didn't go out of my way to corral them. But I had started working on this story called Superman's Back! in a green notebook. First Logan Ewing, then William Rudzinski, then Nora Rudzinski, then Madison Crumbleholme, then Carson Heath, Quincy Keele, Katie Makleust, Andrew Clark, Joie Stoeffen, and almost all of the lost boys got swept up in helping me write this little epic. Then there was Claire Rittenhouse. Claire and I became friends when she saw I was a fan of The Hunger Games. She had read the books, and we wound up having a five minute conversation about how Gregor the Overlander had certain carry-over Suzanne Collins traits to The Hunger Games. I was reading Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods. She hadn't read the Gregor the Overlander series yet, but when I explained how the aspect of siding with your opposition (Finnick Odair/Johanna Mason compare to Ripred), protecting a younger sister (Prim-Boots), and a strong protagonist being a chosen warrior (Gregor-Katniss), it was clear she was engaged in my description. She went on to recommend the Divergent series by Veronica Roth.
I wound up buying Divergent from Books a Million. I read it beginning July 20th and completed it by September 30th. Claire was a very interesting person. One thing that was significant about her was she pulled me aside almost every night to remind me what a great job I was doing. I thought that was the pot calling the kettle black. She was one of the Indians. Their dance with the Ug-a-Wug was dazzling. It was amazing to see all of their arm and leg movement, completely in unison. The pirates, well, we had the Tarantella and the Tango. And while we did have those choreographed, we were allowed to mess up a little. I found it remarkable that a girl from the cast who was such a great actor and dancer would take time out of the reherasal and performance nights to give attention to me. It made me think of Gabby during Meet Me in St. Louis. Getting back to Music Guild and doing theatre again has been great. Working with Meet Me in St. Louis alumnus Livvie Lyman, and It's a Wonderful Life veteran Sophia Pike, and all of the new children was a thrill. I found myself still working on Superman's Back! for weeks after Peter Pan wrapped. It was sad when I came to the point where I took a break from that story. I realized the inspiration of the children was what prompted me to work on Peter Pan six pages at a stretch. It wasn't the same trying to draw up ideas without them. Whenever I run into one of the kids from Peter Pan, I find myself right back in the summer of 2013, discussing with them the progress on the story, it's present status, and the ideas I have as to where to proceed from here. Add to everything mentioned Mike Millar, Tom Naab, Harold Truitt, Tim Dominicus, Adam Lounsberry, Edward Sierra Lee, Jeanine Link, Murphy Bolt, and all of the great new friends I made doing this show, Peter Pan was a wonderful experience that stayed with me for weeks.