‘Peter Pan And Wendy’ Soars At HJT

by Jennifer Sexton

            HARWICH--- “All children, except one, grow up.”

            These intriguing words open the 1911 novel “Peter Pan and Wendy,” later known as simply “Peter Pan,” by Scottish author and dramatist J.M. Barrie. The beloved story of the eternally youthful flying leader of the Lost Boys on the island of Neverland and his impact on the lives of three typical English children will come to life on Harwich Junior Theatre’s stage under the direction of HJT alum Maura Hanlon beginning on Friday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m.   

Art Devine as Captain Hook, Rose Cronin-Jackman as Wendy and Troy Barboza as Peter Pan in “Peter Pan and Wendy” at Harwich Junior Theatre.

           “Peter Pan and Wendy” is a true play adaptation of the original novel by Doug Rand. When the carefree and careless Peter Pan flies into the nursery of the Darling home, Wendy follows her instincts for adventure, bringing her little brothers along to magical Neverland. She takes care of the motherless Lost Boys but soon the Darling children are swept into Peter's battle with Captain Hook and his mostly fearsome pirate crew. With so much excitement, why ever go home again?

            “It’s a whole lot of play and it’s a really big cast,” says director Hanlon. “We have a cast of 27 ranging in age from 8 through the 60s. Nineteen of the actors are under age 15. The bulk of the show is children, and they are just wonderfully open and present and working so, so hard. They are a really fun group of kids. It’s organized chaos. A couple of my students are in it, as are two of my three children.”

            The quality of Peter Pan which has appealed to Hanlon from the beginning is that the story is all about play.

            “I read it to our boys when they were young,” she says. “It’s all about playing. That’s what we are running with in the production. It is completely about how children are committed to play. They 100 percent believe the games that they play. That’s what children’s theater is about, and it’s what all theater should be about. We tend to forget that when we grow up, and that is most definitely what family and children’s theater should be: willingness go jump in with both feet and just let go and play. That’s what we are trying to do.”

            Troy Barboza plays the part of Peter Pan, a role that is typically (and somewhat curiously) played by a female, a throwback to the time when petite actresses were easier to lift on stage in early flying harnesses. Hanlon describes Barboza as a wonderful, amazingly physical young actor. In the role of Wendy is 13-year-old Rose Cronin-Jackman, whom Hanlon calls delightful.

            “The thing about Wendy is that she is a girl on the verge of becoming a woman. And Rose is that girl,” says Hanlon. “She has spectacular voice, and she is open, smart, lovely and yet gangly. You look at her and she is a little girl, then she opens her mouth sometimes and you hear a grown up, and it’s a lovely quality. From the first time I auditioned her she had an intuitive reaction to the part. It’s a huge, difficult part for a kid, She is working so hard, and the kids are really supportive of one another. She is perfect. And she has dimples you could fall into.”

            Hanlon will direct her husband, actor Art Devine, for the first time since 1993 as he steps into the role of Captain Hook, the comically frightening pirate nemesis of the sprightly Peter Pan.

            “The pirates are awesome! They are so much fun and hysterically funny,” says Hanlon. “I hope they are a little bit scary and surprising. Hook is really funny and maybe a little bit scary, but never authentically scary. It moves so fast, and it’s very family friendly. My six-year-old has been through the whole process. Everybody has a sense of this story. I think people will come and have a really fun time.”

            Hanlon has a band of her own talented longtime friends around her to bring Neverland alive. She grew up at HJT with James P. Byrne, who designed the set and lights. Another longtime theater collaborator, J Hagenbuckle, designed the sound. Robin McLaughlin, with whom Hanlon says she has “worked forever,” designed the costumes, while Mary Beth Travis is the “prop queen on a show that really requires a lot of cleverness and joy and childhood memories.”

            “Maura Hanlon is wonderful,” says Jade Rutanen of Chatham, who plays Mrs. Darling, a lead pirate and Wendy as an adult. “I’ve worked with her before, and I am thrilled to have the chance to work with her again. She does an incredible job of bringing this dream world to life.”

            Hanlon is grateful to have the opportunity to work in the theater she grew up in, and to take part in the childhood theater experience of her students as they grow as human beings and develop their skills.

            “It’s wonderful to be able to carry kids forward,” she says. “I started at HJT when I was 12, and I started teaching at HJT when I was 19. I grew up there. My brother and sister grew up there too. The thing that makes HJT unique, and this goes back to when founder Betty Bobp was alive, is a sense of ownership. The kids own the place. It’s theirs. And when I was a kid, I showed an interest and people gave me responsibility. When someone is willing to give it to you and you are interested, you are going to take it and it’s going to change you. Even if you never go into the theater, you are taking responsibility for big things at a very young age. I think it makes for curious, brave people who say yes. It makes a big difference.”

Details

“Peter Pan and Wendy”

Based on the novel by J.M. Barrie, adapted by Doug Rand

Directed by Maura Hanlon

At Harwich Junior Theatre

Feb. 12 through March 7

To purchase tickets, call the box office at 508 432-2002

Or visit www.hjtcapecod.org 

2/11/10