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IRONDALE ENSEMBLE PROJECTNEWSNEWS Fall 2001 “SPECIAL ISSUE” Volume 5 No. 1 RROOSSEESS IINN DDEECCEEMMBBEERR:: INVENTING JAMES M. BARRIE WONDERLAND AND HIS SEARCH FOR The Development and Purpose THE LOST BOY of Children’s Literature from the By Michael-David Gordon 19th century to the early 20th By Melissa Jayme God gave us memory so that we The 19th century marked the might have roses in December. emergence of children’s literature with On April 6, 1960, the New York color illustrations that helped readers Times proclaimed: BARRIE’S PETER visualize the characters and the KILLED BY LONDON TRAIN. The stories. Although the history of spin was that a mere mortal, in this children’s literature dates back to the case a mild-mannered book executive 600’s, few authors wrote books intended named Peter Davies, had decided to specifically for children before the end his life. The headlines PETER’S 1800’s. Children’s books prior to this DEATH LEAP and THE END OF THE focused on instruction of behavior and ETERNAL BOY blared from some of beliefs; ideas which reflected the moral the more imaginative periodicals. One ideals of their time. paper opined: “Until he died at the age Four of the most revered works of 63, Peter Davies was – in children’s literature were published the boy who would never grow up.” between 1865 and 1926 – Alice’s Peter Davies grew up to hate the J. M. Barrie as and Michael Davie as Peter. Adventures in Wonderland, The Wind comparison. To him it seemed to lodge older brother David with many stories. that was dead: in those twenty-nine in the Willows, Peter Pan and The itself in his existence in a way that Some of those stories or idylls came years he was not removed one day Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. made it extremely difficult to forge his out of the Old Lights religious sect of farther from her.” As a result of his These four classics fall into the genre own life, indeed – to grow up. Judging which she had long been a member. mother’s emotional distance from him, of modern fantasy, which is defined as from the various headlines of the day, Barrie’s writing communicates how he, in turn, grew distant from the world. events, settings or characters that are one could surmise that whatever his devoted he was to his mother and his At the Dumfries Academy he outside the realm of possibility and accomplishments were as a publisher, taking up of the storytelling tradition busied himself with many activities and which often contain truths to help the they were all but irrelevant when was largely a tribute to her – as well as took to visiting the local theater. It was reader understand the world in which bathed in the glaring light of the little an effort for recognition in her eyes. there that Barrie began to fuse his he or she lives. boy from Neverland. There are those At the age of six, tragedy hit love of the stage with his penchant for Some of the works that are who would find no small measure of the Barrie family. His older brother storytelling. He founded the Dumfries now considered children’s classics irony in the fact that the source of the David perished in a skating accident at Dramatic Club where he produced his were not primarily written for children. late Mr. Davies’ misery was created by Sanford Pool, near Oxford. While the first play, Bandelero the Bandit. His first Instead, they were political satires. For the man who literally worshipped him – entire family was devastated, it was his success as a writer came as a journalist example, in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s the Scottish author James M. Barrie. mother who was hit the hardest. Barrie for the Nottingham Journal with a Adventures in Wonderland, many of I have lost trout because when they spent the rest of his life attempting to fill series of short articles called Auld Licht the events that occur during the course nibbled, my mind was wandering with his brother’s shoes and winning her Idylls. The stories, inspired by his of Alice’s adventures are rooted in her: my early life was embittered by her affection by being a successful writer. mother’s childhood adventures in her English culture: tea parties, croquet not arriving regularly. Unfortunately, her grief over David’s hometown of Kurriemuir, were an games and awkward encounters with death intensified as the years went on. instant success. The stories read very royalty. Many of Alice’s running conver- James Matthew Barrie was In his mother’s “biography” Margaret much like the modern day Tales of the sations with herself reflect aspects of born on May 9, 1860, in Kirriemuir, Ogilvy, he wrote: “she lived twenty-nine City – the series of articles that appeared Victorian childhood and education: her Scotland, a small craft community. His years after his (David’s) death – but I in the pages of the San Francisco constant concern about good manners, mother, Margaret, regaled him and his had not made her forget the part of her Chronicle written by Armistead Maupin. her study of Latin, her mediocre Continued on page 7 Continued on page 5

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PETER PAN

By J. M. Barrie

NOVEMBER 20 - DECEMBER 22 TUESDAYS THROUGH SATURDAYS AT 8 PM

Theatre for the New City 155 First Avenue (Between 9th and 10th Streets)

FOR RESERVATIONS CALL (718) 488-9233 OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.IRONDALE.ORG. K EEP THE N IGHT-LIGHTS B URNING Irondale Ensemble Project Mission/Vision Statement Background By Terry Greiss flies low overhead or a siren whizzes The Irondale Ensemble Project is a direct descendent of the ensemble past, we notice it more acutely than on movement in American theater, birthed in the cauldron of the Great J. M. Barrie wrote: “I don’t September 10th. Let’s not even talk Depression and coming of age through the progressive politics of the 1960’s. know whether you have ever seen a about common flu-like symptoms or Irondale was founded as a reaction to and as an argument with a theater that has become increasingly wed to the “entertainment industry” and “market map of a person’s mind. Doctors some- skin rashes. We are also told that since culture”. times draw maps of other parts of you, September 11th, “everything has but catch them trying to draw a map of changed.” Of course it hasn’t. It’s still Mission a child’s mind. There are astonishing the same world as it was the day splashes of colour here and there, and before; the dangers existed then as We create theater that is a strong voice for social change, and is characterized by a deep commitment to artistic excellence. Through the content of our coral reefs and savages and lonely now, the country was as vulnerable as performances, and by using theater as an educational tool in schools, lairs, and caves through which a river now. But certainly with the attack on prisons, shelters, and other community settings, we believe that we have a runs... On these shores children are the World Trade Center the clock direct, often life-changing affect on our audience. Central to our work is an forever beaching their coracles. By day started ticking the “two minutes before exploration of collaboration, creativity, pedagogy and the process of theater it is not in the least alarming, but in the you go to sleep.” So our night-lights are making, through the long association of professional artists. We conduct this exploration in traditional and non-tradional theater spaces. two minutes before you go to sleep it turned up as bright as we can make becomes very real. That is why there them. We don’t want to be afraid. Vision are night-lights.” In our post 9/11 Neverland, as Here in America, it feels like in Barrie’s, kill pirates and Irondale combines research, education and performance to create socially the nursery night-lights are on. We are killed themselves with real swords. relevant theater. have been told that people are afraid, Five thousand people are dead – here. We believe that any room or space where people gather can become a and perhaps that’s true. I certainly see There’s “regrettable collateral damage” theater; any group of participants is an audience. evidence of it, even among friends and in Afghanistan. We are looking for solu- family. Some describe themselves as tions which will help us cope. These We serve a community that is defined by a common willingness to confront feeling more “vulnerable” than before. include offering our K-12 graders the ideas and engage in inquiry; it transcends class, race and geographic boundary. Many of us find it more difficult to opportunity to pledge allegiance to the “focus” or concentrate. When a subway American Flag and sing patriotic songs Irondale rejects the values of dominant culture forms that want us tranquilized, train stalls between stations, a plane to each other. Our leaders ask us to want us to no longer recognize ourselves, and want to colonize our stay on “high alert, but go imaginations. about business as usual”. Finally, we believe in and trust the value of our own idealism. This is ultimately It conjures up humorous what sustains the company, infuses the work with hope, and allows us to ways of shopping for pass on particular working methods to other artists and groups who seek to groceries, or crossing create healthier, more vital and more beautiful communities however they streets, or opening mail. may define them. They have to know how ludicrous they sound – to you so that you will always to live in a world as unreal as this one, and how frightened they remember this.” After that, he slept the let’s beautify it a little bit. Maybe now is make people feel. peaceful sleep of a child and has every our chance to begin making it over Barrie says that Peter night since. Other children that I know again. I’m getting out my Legos and Pan is the boy who guides have rebuilt lower Manhattan in Legos rebuilding it according to my specifica- children half-way to the or created similar works of art. tions. The towers won’t be as high, but netherworld when they And perhaps that’s the key. the roots will be deeper. I’m die, so that they won’t be That’s how we should deal with the fear reminded of the cave paintings at afraid. Who will do that for or anger or sorrow or whatever we’re Lascaux or Font de Gaume that have us? Who will be our feeling now. lasted 15,000 years – now we know “mother’s eyes”? The wounds of the 11th need that they were created as pre-historic My six-year-old son healing and I really think that now is art museums. That’s what I want couldn’t sleep a few nights the time to look to artists and art for my towers to represent. after the disaster – until help. Let’s not only congregate around I look forward to welcoming he completed a picture flags and in memorial services; let’s you to our theater. I won’t say that it is book for his mom and me come together around plays, art a place devoid of fear. I wouldn’t even accurately depicting the shows, concerts, in theaters, museums want it that way, because fear is good. whole event. He pointedly and auditoriums, and let’s collectively But as you sit in the darkness, just wait Illustration by F. D. Bedford in told us, as he gave the gift figure out what’s going on in this – the night-lights will come on. Barrie’s 1911 novel of his book, “I’m giving this “changed” world. After all, if we’re going

Receive $5 off a $25 ticket with this coupon to Irondale Ensemble Project’s production of $5 off J. M. Barrie’s For reservations call (718) 488-9233 or visit our website www.irondale.org PETER PAN

Directed by Jim Niesen Original music by Walter Thompson Performed live by members of The Walter Thompson Orchestra November 20 - December 22 Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 PM Special Benefit Tickets: $25, $15 for Seniors and Students Tuesday, December 11 Thursday Nights - Pay What You Can Performance begins at 7 PM Followed by a reception with the Ensemble Tickets $50.00 RSVP (718) 488-9233 Your participation in the Peter Pan benefit on December 11 will help Irondale continue its work in the Alternative High Schools, P 106 (a school for emotionally-disabled students at Bellevue Hospital), and its Adolescent HIV Prevention Theater Work- shop Program for schools in public housing facilities. After ten years of consistent support from the New York City Board of Education, we now face the possibility that this work will not continue at a time when it is most needed. We expect to lose $100,000 in funds designated to implement these programs. We have promises to keep to the students – the most innocent of all the WTC victims.

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By Dan Bacher Adams for the role of Wendy, who in his Disney cast actor Bobby Driscoll for the graph the Martin production) to write Since the early 1900’s, the mind was the star of the show. voice of Peter. He was a familiar child the score for the musical. Realizing the character of Peter Pan has withstood Although Adams starred in Peter Pan actor, and was in fact Disney’s first size of the project, Robbins later hired the test of time. What began as a on tours and revivals until 1915, J. M. contracted child performer (signed in noted lyricists Betty Comden and London storyteller’s thoughts in Barrie was never able to attend any of 1945 BC – Before Cubby). Live action Adolph Green, and composer Jule evolved into one her performances. Styne to write additional music for the of the most produced and revered Both in the United States and upcoming production. With the new characters, and plays, of the 20th England, Peter Pan ran in either songs, Mary Martin in the role of Peter century. revivals or tours for nearly 50 consecutive Pan, and Cyril Ritchard as Hook, the In 1902, Peter Pan was first years. Actresses who graced the stage show was a great success. After a full mentioned in a book by J. M. Barrie as Peter Pan include Gladys Cooper, season on Broadway, the production entitled . The Haley Mills, Zena Dare, Jean Forbes- was filmed for television and was character was popular with the author Robertson, Eva La Gallienne, Elsa broadcast seven times between the and often became the lead character in Lanchester and Jean Arthur. An array years 1955 and 1973. The televised the skits and games Barrie played with of fine actors portrayed Pan’s nemesis, production brought world-wide popularity family friends, the Davies. By 1904, Hook, including Charles Laughton, to the musical and created an Ameri- Peter was perfected and became the Allastair Sim, Ron Moody, Boris can tradition. Despite skepticism in lead character in a full-length play. Karloff, Danny Kaye and Joss Ackland. England, the musical kept many of the The play was titled Peter Pan, Hook and Peter Pan were not the only Barrie traditions. But like the Disney or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up. characters to be portrayed by notable version, the musical kept the story light Barrie’s script was originally rejected actors. In a 1913 production in London, and campy. on the basis that it was too elaborate to Noel Coward made his professional In the 1960’s in Wisconsin, be produced. There were too many acting debut as the lost boy Slightly. innovative director/producer Stuart large set changes and the technical Throughout the 20th century, Gordon put on a very controversial aspect of flying seemed too complicated different productions evolved from the Mary Martin as Peter Pan production of Peter Pan with his newly- to stage. However, with the confidence original Barrie play. However, no two formed Screw Theatre Troupe. This of Barrie’s friend and producer, Charles productions are more responsible for references were filmed of Driscoll for version included a simulated acid trip Frohman, Barrie mounted the first the endurance of Peter Pan’s popularity animators to achieve the boyish Pan and nude dancers which landed production of Peter Pan on December characteristics, while films of dancer Gordon in jail on charges of obscenity. 27, 1904, at the Duke of York’s Theatre Roland Dupree were made to capture Although the charges were dropped, in London. the grace of Peter’s flight. Among the the innovative reputation of the Not knowing how popular other voice-over talents were Hans production was not forgotten. Peter Pan would become, Barrie was Conried in the role of Capt. Hook. Of It wasn’t until 1982, when unaware that this first production would course, in keeping with tradition, Trevor Nunn and John Caird produced set theatrical traditions for the play for Conried also supplied the voice of Mr. their version of Peter Pan at the Barbican generations to come. A few traditions Darling. Although there were some Theatre in London, that a man was cast that are associated with Peter Pan are ideas and traditions that remained true in the role of Peter Pan in England. Mr. Darling and Captain Hook being to Barrie’s original story, there were Recently the same team of directors played by the same actor, Nana and many “new” innovations that did not. Of remounted the same production, with a the Crocodile being played by the course, it was hard to condense all the few small changes, at the Royal same actor and, perhaps the most elements of the original play into a 77- National Theatre in London. This 1998 famous of all, the cross-gender casting minute animated feature. One of the production, which starred Ian McKellen of a female as Peter Pan. Women most obvious changes was the feeling as Hook, combined several different would go on to play the lead role in of light humor (often riddled with slap- adaptations of Barrie’s Peter Pan, Peter Pan for almost 50 years. The first stick) that ran throughout the entire including the novel, the 1950 New York actress to play Peter was 37 year-old, version of story. While many of the dark script, and an unproduced screenplay Nina Boucicault, sister to the play’s first elements of the original Peter Pan were that Barrie wrote for Charlie Chaplin in director, Don Boucicault. Peter Pan still there, one could never forget that 1924. Included was a reconstruction was considered a role for a woman one was watching a very entertaining of the last chapter of the novel when until a 1952 German production cast a cartoon. Smee was a little bit nicer, Wendy and the Boys grow up. Another male in the role. The English didn’t Tinkerbell was a little bit cuter, and Mr. of the many innovations in this production break this tradition until the 1980’s. Maude Adams as Peter Pan Darling, although Victorian, was as Peter Pan was an instant bungling as Hal Roach Studio actor suc- over the past 50 years than the 1953 Billy Gilbert. cess. animated Disney feature and the 1954 While music was always a part In Mary Martin Broadway musical. of Peter Pan productions, a full-blown Although these two adaptations vary musical was not attempted until 1954. wildly from Barrie’s original storyline, In the early 1950’s, Jean Arthur was they seem to form most people’s the popular Peter, enjoying a suc- memories of cessful run as the flying adolescent. Peter But because of Arthur’s inability to Pan. sing, she was replaced by an actress In who’s name ultimately became syn- 1953, onymous with the role of Peter Pan ... Disney Mary Martin. opened Composer a full- was originally commissioned to write a length musical based on the Barrie classic, animated but after writing five pieces (which feature were used in the Jean Arthur production), film he left the project without it ever quite making it to musical status. Jerome Robbins was supposed to direct the Jean Arthur as Peter Pan Jean Arthur production, but left the pro- 1905, ject when the production became more was the use a narrator who represented the focused on the play rather than the Barrie. play musical aspect. Robbins saw great The story of Peter Pan will made its New York debut to rave potential in Peter Pan and did not want always be performed and continue to reviews with Maude Adams in the title Walt Disney’s Peter Pan to give up the idea of a full-length evolve, but no matter what shape or role. Adams had enjoyed earlier success Broadway musical. So songwriting form he takes, The Boy Who Could Not in previous Barrie plays like The Little of Peter Pan which was a major success. team Moose Charlap and Carolyn Grow Up will remain a constant in our Minister (1897) and Quality Street This was one of the first attempts to Leigh were approached by Robbins lives, from the youngest to the oldest of (1901). Barrie had originally wanted have a young boy play the role of Peter. (who would also direct and choreo- children.

3 this tale share traits that make them different sides of the same coin. A difficulty relating to others (which leads to isolation and self-centeredness), a lust for power and control and a fear of the passage of time (leading Peter to the decision to never grow up and Hook to an ultimately vain attempt to escape the crocodile) are some of the characteristics the two hold in common. In contrast to the Phoenicians, Western culture during the second part of the 20th century idealized the young (Dean, Monroe, Morrison), wanted to resist change (plastic surgery) and undervalued old age (nursing homes as final destination). Peter Pan became almost exclusively identified with eter- nal youth, childhood innocence and imaginative spontaneity. Less appeal- Captain Hook Illustration by Paula Rego ing aspects of Pan’s youthfulness were conveniently downplayed; Peter’s Irondale Ensemble Project’s 1984 production of Jason (Photo: Gerry Goodstein) Peter Pan: cruelty and merciless forgetfullness, for Puer et Senex example, and his absence of a con- By Sven Miller science. Early performances of Peter Director’s Note Pan featured him with pipes and a live By Jim Niesen The 20th century has seen a goat. He was lascivious in addition to quantum leap in technological and being childlike. The two are not mutually Peter Pan has much to say about the implicit tensions in the scientific advancement, as well as all exclusive. Simply because children are relationship between children and adults. “Children are heartless bas- the horrors that come hand in hand unaware of their lascivious actions tards, callous to their friends and family alike. They believe that their with such progress. The inability to does not mean they are incapable of mother will always be there for them. But Peter knows better. He knows control the advancements has been lewd and lecherous behavior. that mothers have plans that are not in the children’s best interests, and paralleled by a shallow treatment of Disney, in early obligence to he also knows that children who go off on their own may well return human development. No particular or political correctness (pouring out prim to find that their mother has locked them out. intensified attention has been paid to and proper 50’s family values), pitched “In its original form this is a dark look at childhood. Neverland is the human being and its psychological good vs. evil in a post war world that a dark place with drunken elves, and pirates to kill and be killed by. This development. Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, needed just that: sanitization. However, is a story about growing up, and not growing up, and the desolation of two Russian mystics, state that the it is not exactly what Barrie wrote. His adulthood.” study of is at its lowest Edwardian restraints may well have The piece is performed on a unit set whose significant feature point in history. Ironically, this is a time accounted for a certain sentimental, is a rope-like structure reminiscent of a huge cargo net or spider web when deep inquiries into the human proper use of language, but the looming over an otherwise barren space. It suggests an atmosphere psyche (Freud, Fromm, Jung, Adler, images, atmospheres and story he that would seem to have more in common with the island of William and V. Frantz to name a few) have conjures up clearly point to his deep Golding’s Lord of the Flies than Barrie’s Neverland. In the air hang an started to open doors into an under- affliction with a very complex issue. In assortment of rusted objects associated with the vagaries of childhood. standing of the individual and collective Barrie’s novel the island of childhood Perhaps these signify the impure thoughts which Mrs. Darling has processes of the human being. A lot of exists apart from and invisible to the removed each night from her children’s minds. The performance style is these pioneers’ research seems unfin- adult world. They are separate. Whereas transformation with the company of nine playing over thirty roles and ished, blurred by subjective issues or a child is driven to explore Neverland shifting from Lost Boy to pirate and back again and from location to interrupted by history. Much of their for its adventures and freedom (having location with the fluidity of the dream-like state suggested by Barrie’s findings seem forgotten or distorted by no concept of its dangers), the adult narrative. popularization, which has led to a dan- may remember something through the Barrie came back to the writing of the play many times after its gerous black and white view of the veils of nostalgia: quiet identification opening and did not issue a final script until the 1920’s. He also adapt- world, building and cementing ignorance might be permissible. ed it into a novel in 1911. It appears to us that so much of Barrie’s fas- in the disguise of half-knowledge. He When and why were the boy cination with the story was his attempt to use it as a vehicle to examine who thinks he knows, knows least. In and old man separated? To what the events of his own life. light of Peter Pan, Disney has proven purpose? The initiation of the young in With this in mind, we have added the character of Barrie him- to be a master of distortive sanitization. tribes around the world is conducted by self. The entire story is told through his eyes and takes place inside his Barrie’s original has been bereft of all same sex elders. Ancient depictions mind. The act of telling the story to the audience becomes in a way Bar- its darker undertones and turned into show a young with an adult rie’s own attempt at Jungian analysis. an ode to eternal youth (which partly it beard, the divine child. “Things are usually quiet on the island. The fairies take an hour is, but not exclusively). was an ambiguous double figure. longer in the morning, the beasts attend to their young, the redskins The puer et senex duality was There was a ludeness, a sexual adven- feed heavily for six days and nights, and when pirates and Lost Boys a central cult in Phoenician society, tourousness to Pan, the Greek God meet they merely bite their thumbs at each other. But with the coming worshipping the father-son relation- with the goat, the one from whom Peter of Peter, who hates lethargy, they are under way again: if you put your ship, the procreative masculine spirit inherited his name. ear to the ground now, you would hear the whole island seething with and the phallic quality of Libido. The Jungians claim that the puer- life.” puer (boy) and senex (old man) were et-senex unity is necessary for a polar aspects of the . The healthy society. Seperation leads to young and all its attributes coexists in repression and denial. The father-son continuous relation with the old in all its relation faded into the background at aspects and manifestations. It is an Continued on page 8 ordering pattern essential to healthy self-identity through- out the stages of life. HHeellpp UUss CCoouunntt 5500,,000000 SSttaarrss Jungians sense that a separation leads We are pleased to announce the second Irondale Starry Night to pathologizing one Challenge! Any new contribution received before June 30, 2002, will be or the other. The matched dollar for dollar up to $50,000 by the Starry Night Fund. This young becomes self- money goes to support our productions: J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and The indulgent, possessed Murals of Rockefeller Center, as well as the programs we run for New with an immeasur- York City’s public schools, the “crisis education” programs for youth-at- able death wish, risk and the support of our permanent ensemble of artists, who are challenging the gods employed for 42 weeks each year by Irondale. Our permanent company (as demonstrated by makes the kind of work you see here possible. James Dean and other icons of pop Make your contribution twice as effective by making it now! culture); the old in Please make checks payable to Irondale Productions, Inc. and mail to turn is cut off from P. O. Box 150604 Brooklyn, NY 11215. Make sure you indicate “Starry his “other” and adopts Night Challenge” on your check memo line. All contributions are tax a rigid cynical atti- deductible to the full extent of the law. tude towards life. Pan is youth; Hook The skies look bright, thanks to your generous support. is old age. Both in Peter Pan and Captain Hook Illustration by Paula Rego

4 The Call to Adventure Neverland: Wendy is shot. The Region of the Unknown “Perhaps she is just frightened of being dead.” Everyone knows... a friend no less, and lies seemingly dead. She would have died if it hadn’t been Text by Jack Lush for the supernatural aid she received from Peter before she set out on her journey, Illustrations by Josh Bacher a kiss in the form of an acorn that saves her life. Wendy is then taken to the home underground, symbolically representing Everyone knows of Peter Pan’s adventures and heroics. The eternal boy the belly of the whale. Our hero, seemingly dead, is reborn here. The whale’s laughs with the stars, lives with the fairies in Neverland, flies on the wind’s back belly has always represented a “sphere of rebirth”, and it is here in the home and kills pirates for fun. But is he the hero of our story? In looking for the hero in underground where Wendy begins her transformation into the heroic and ideal Peter Pan from the perspective of Joseph Cambell’s The Hero with a Thousand Edwardian mother. Faces, there is only one answer, and everyone knows it’s Wendy. Second: Initiation. In most hero myths, after the initiate has crossed Wendy!? The hero? Odds, bobs, hammer and tongs! Preposterous! But the threshold into the unknown region and been reborn in some fashion, before we jump to conclusions, let us follow her oddessy and compare it to there begins a series of trials and tests. “When he arrives at the nadir of the Cambell’s structure of the hero’s journey. Granted, it is greatly condensed and mythological round, he undergoes a supreme ordeal and gains his reward.” For abridged, but it does have some lovely illustrations. Wendy this supreme ordeal comes when she is asked by Hook if she has any First: Departure. Wendy answers the call to adventure. Peter (as the last words for her children (the Lost Boys who are about to die). She commands herald. Although it must be said that Peter plays many functions in our myth. them “to die like English gentlemen.” In this statement Wendy embodies the According to Cambell the figure of the herald appears “in the psyche that is ripe heroic qualities of the perfect Edwardian mother. Seen from the perspective of for transformation.”) lures Wendy to Neverland. He entices her with the promise turn-of-the-century British culture, Wendy is now the mother/hero. that she will be a needed mother – one who tells stories and tucks in her children. Third: Return. When the hero returns from the unknown region, he or She also is entranced by his promise of mermaids. she brings back a world-restoring boon, be it fire or knowledge or some other As they take flight, they cross the threshold into the “regions of the elixir that will help the world. Wendy returns from Neverland with life. She brings unknown.” Neverland is this place, a place of fantastic mystery and untold the Lost Boys back into the realm of existence. She also brings back a knowl- danger. “The Arcadian god Pan is the best known classical example of this edge of Neverland and, therefore, a knowledge of youth (which is both a bless- dangerous presence dwelling just beyond the protected zone of the village ing and curse). As Wendy grows older she is able to tell the stories of Neverland boundary.” Away from the safety of her home and parental support, Wendy and Peter to her daughter, Jane. Most grown-ups forget Neverland, but not enters Neverland, where Peter Pan is captain. Wendy. Peter calls upon her to come for spring cleaning, but takes Jane instead. Although Neverland, a land of youthful joy, appears secure and safe, the Wendy is never allowed to go back, for she doesn’t know how to fly. But she has unknown regions always contain danger. Wendy is shot down with an arrow, by her stories and her family.

The Belly of the Whale “Die like English Gentlemen!” The Return “If only I could go with you.” “You can’t fly.”

Inventing Wonderland continued from page 1 knowledge of geography, moral poems obsession with motor cars leads him to tell him about having to help raise her friends in the forest called the Hun- which she had to memorize, and the imprisonment from which he escapes “motherless” siblings were direct inspi- dred Acre Wood. The boy is the only fact that she frequently becomes fright- into the Wild Woods and, with the help ration for Wendy and the Lost Boys. human being in the adventures and ened and lonely enough to burst into of his companions, regains Toad Hall The name Wendy was created by serves as the kindly master of the ani- tears. from Untermenschen Stoats. The book Barrie from his own personal experi- mals. Milne stated that he did not Carroll was a mathematician reflects the author’s unhappiness with ence. W.E. Henley’s little girl Margaret intend the Pooh stories to be “chil- and logician who was obsessed with his own life. had called Barrie her “fwendy”. dren’s stories”, but stories for the child puzzles and logic games. He created In 1911, J.M. Barrie published Margaret died at age three, and Barrie, in all of us. the story on the spur of the moment for Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn’t heart broken, re-christened her Children’s literature serves a 10-year-old girl named Alice Liddell Grow Up. The story is a reflection of “Wendy”. Henley was the model for many purposes: to help young readers and later published the book in 1865. Barrie’s life. When Barrie was six, his Hook (as well as the model for another to understand and empathize, to devel- In 1908, Kenneth Grahame 13-year-old brother passed away from classic pirate hero, Robert Louis op moral reasoning, to stimulate imagi- published The Wind in the Willows. He a head injury. The accident was Stevenson’s Long John Silver). nation and to inspire. For the mature wrote the book for his only son while emotionally paralyzing for Barrie’s A. A. Milne wrote the story of reader, it may serve as simple enjoy- working as a secretary at the Bank of mother and she never recovered from Winnie the Pooh in 1926. He based ment. Children’s literature is not mere- England. The major theme of the story it, which deeply affected Barrie. He felt the characters on his young son’s ly stories for children but as A. A. Milne is the struggle between the noisy, that death would leave his brother a stuffed animals. The stories describe stated: “stories for the child in us.” common way of life and the quiet and child forever; that he would never grow the adventures of a boy named genteel. The main tale tells how Toad’s up. Stories that Barrie’s mother used to Christopher Robin and his animal

5 the possibility that the car might swerve out of the road injuring the driver? T h e H e a r t l e s s C h i l d What of children using a magnifying glass to burn ants? It is all fun and play. By Rezeile Caravaca on Nana. John and Michael are con- In an essay entitled Tragedy as cerned with killing pirates. Only once Child’s Play, Lance Morrow talks about When I first read the ending to does Wendy think about her mother, this “fantasy culture”. He states that it is the play Peter Pan, it surprised me. but within a few minutes her thoughts part of childhood to “enter into parallel James Barrie decided to end the play are diverted to the mermaids. In a Fire- universes of ‘play’ that may be sinister with the following statement about chil- blade Book Review, Jerry Stratton and may become more captivating the dren: “When Margaret grows up she comments on Peter Pan: “Children are more they stimulate reality.” This brings will have a daughter, who is to be heartless bastards, callous of their us back to Peter Pan. When Wendy, Peter’s mother in turn; and thus it will friends and family alike. They believe John, and Michael return, they find go on, as long as children are gay and that their mother will always be there their father living in a kennel. The chil- innocent and heartless.” I thought to for them.” dren are disappointed because “he is myself, “Okay, he got the innocent and Yet the heartlessness of chil- not so big as the pirate” Michael killed. gay part right ...but heartless?” Further dren is not found only in the play Peter (Incidentally, this dark scene from the research was necessary. Pan. One need only walk out the front original play is cut from the happier Why does James Barrie say door and watch children playing to dis- Disney film version.) Mr. Lance Morrow children are heartless? If we take a cover this phenomenon for oneself. hits the nail right on the head when he closer look at Wendy’s reasons for Better yet, travel back into one’s own states the following: leaving her home, we can find two. childhood and discover one’s own “First of all, play is not neces- First, she wants to see the mermaids. heartlessness. Children may place an sarily innocent, nor is childhood. The Second, she wants to be with Peter object in the middle of the road and innocence of children is an adult myth. and play the role of Mother. Neither of watch from behind the bushes while a The reality is children’s extreme vulner- Michael Davie her reasons, according to the text, car swerves in order to avoid the for- ability; their storms of anger and irra- have to do with her father’s cruel joke eign object. Does a child think about tionality and their dramatically imagina- for pulling out your tooth yourself, and tive lives, which conjure monsters and so on, and either these are part of the heroes and set them in motion. Those island (Neverland) or they are another imaginations sometimes indulge crazy map showing through, and it is all fantasies of revenge and annihilating rather confusing, especially as nothing indication. The vulnerability, anger and will stand still.” extreme fantasies of children have Who is to blame for a child’s been a constant over the centuries.” inability to empathize or feel? In anoth- Sound familiar? Let me take er article entitled A Chilling Crime and a you back to the beginning of James Question, What’s in a Child’s Mind?, Barrie’s novel and his description of a Susan Sazchs quotes Dr. Robert child’s mind. He describes it as the fol- Coles, a child psychiatrist: “In the lowing: “Draw a map of a child’s mind, absence of that kind of psychological which is not only confused, but keeps life – I mean the lack of controls to deal going round all the time. There are with the impulse of their lives, the lack zigzag lines on it, just like your temper- of an operative consciousness – I can ature on a card, and these are probably only throw my hands up.” The reality roads in the island, for the Neverland is has to set in some time. A child is always more or less an island, with unable to empathize at an early age. astonishing splashes of colour here Even theorized that the and there, and coral reefs and rakish- superego or conscience does not looking craft in the offing, and savages develop until a child is four or five. and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are Therefore, while James Barrie’s state- mostly tailors, and caves through which ment has validity and truth to it, does a river runs, and a princess with six he mean it to be harsh? Heartless con- elder brothers, and a hut fast going to notes the lack of feeling. Developing decay, and one very small old lady with empathy for others is a growth process a hooked nose. It would be an easy we all go through as children. The map if that were all, but there is also development of a conscience and dif- first day at school, religion, fathers, the ferent levels of empathy change round pond, needle-work, murders, throughout a human’s life. Perhaps hangings, verbs that take the dative, Barrie is right – children are, in many chocolate pudding day, getting into ways, heartless. braces, say ninety-nine, three-pence A six-year-old Michael Davie at play as Peter Pan

Thanks to everyone who made last year such a success. Your support makes our education programs possible. We look forward to your continued support.

Adele Steiner Elin Diamond Malcolm and Dottie Knapp Nancy and David Giffey Jerry Bilton Ellie Groetzinger Marietta and Sherwood Fry Kurt and Erika Weihs Rita Long Emily Niesen Eugene Morganthou Al and Muriel Perle William Stowe Lisa Walker Marilyn Rothenberg Hani and Jerome Light Brian Johnston Caroline Thomas Burton and Sandra Freeman Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Braunstein Martin B. Davis R. Mcmahon Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Carlson Jennifer and Tom Schumacher Carol and Merle Gile Dorian and Sara Poole Paul Gottlieb and Barbara Rosenberg New York State Council on the Arts Caroline Thomas Jon Groetzinger Roy and Nancy Thorton The Art Development Committee Fund Judi Bendewald Peggy Myers Sue Jenney and Frank Baier Sonnet Takahisa and Hollis Headrick Vera Aryeh Goethe Institute Steven and Diane Jacobson The Ken and Nina Rothchild Foundation Judy Segal Christopher Dain Tim and Babs Carryer Richard and Maryetta Sachs Julie Coulter Morton Glickman Barbara Hauben Ross The Laurie Tisch Sussman Foundation Greg McCaslin Anne Delaney Michalann Hobson Jimena Martinez and Michael Hirschorn The Monterey Fund Bart Levine Joseph and Marilyn Scherzer National Endowment for the Arts Will Knapp Janet Morrison Mark and Diane Wladis Andy Lewis and Lizbeth Andresen Diana Feldman Florence Wheeler Wallace B. Knapp Phil and Lynn Lilienthal Pfizer Corp. Mladen Kiselov Tonachel & Lewis, PC The New York City Center for Arts Education Suzanne Ehly Paula Freedman The Starry Night Fund (The Annenberg Foundation) Ted Kazanoff Robert Zuckerman Paul and Barbara Schwarz Rory and Jill Greiss Anonymous Ethel Keshner Sidney and Sheila Bloom Mr. and Mrs. Bill Britten Chuck Noell Gretchen Morris Steve and Anne Marie Gold Bernard and Judy Robinson David Wolitzky Hilda Baumol Leon and Florence Perahia New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Lillian Brady Howard Pflanzer Karl and Roberta Budmen The Soledad Company Terry Baker Alan and Jackie Roland Kathryn Grant & Ed Sertrakian The David Bellin Foundation Pheroze Wadia Barbara Mackenzie-Wood Margaret Ann Metzger Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bloom Enact, Inc. Louis Proyect Leon and Nancy Golub The New York Times Company Foundation

6 NETWORK OF ENSEMBLE THEATERS: Report on the Gathering in Maine

By Gerard Stropnicky published by TCG Publications next Schirle of Dell’Arte Theatre Company. the place might provide the proper Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble summer, is an anthology of ensemble Participants at the gathering contemplative setting for the difficult Reprinted with permission from the Network of Ensemble Theatres e-newsletter. plays called Ensemble Works; the as- included representatives from the decisions that lay ahead. The rural yet-untitled second book will look into Angst Ensemble (San Francisco); atmosphere of the Maine 2001 con- The third national Network of ensemble process. ference evoked the summer camp Ensemble Theaters Conference was NET also named retreats where the Group Theatre of held at Camp Winnebago in Fayette, the current Steering Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, Maine, from August 27 through Committee as its found- Clifford Odets, Bobby Lewis, Franchot September 2, 2001, graciously hosted ing Board of Trustees. Tone, Lee Strassberg, et al., would by the Irondale Ensemble Project of The “NET Steers” are spend warm and productive weeks in New York, and funded through a chair: Terry Greiss (Iron- the 1930s. For students of the distin- Consortium Grant from the National dale, New York), and guished history of ensemble work in Endowment for the Arts. On the shores members: Eric Bass the United States, it was the right place of Echo Lake in the quiet woods of (Sandglass Theater, to be. Maine, amid loon calls and rumors of Vermont); Bob Leonard The NET came to its conclusions meandering moose, games of softball (Community Arts Network through the use of Open Space Tech- and volleyball, adventures in sunfish and Virginia Tech, Blacks- nology, masterfully facilitated by Jeff sailing and kayaking, warm days, cool burg, VA); Katherine Noon Aiken of Berkeley, California. Jeff evenings and a rising morning mist on (Ghost Road Theatre, began his relationship with NET in San the lake, 60 theatre artists representing Los Angeles); Linda Parris- Francisco last year, and the Open 18 ensemble theatres met and played, Bailey (Carpetbag Theater, Space model has proved a perfect fit talked and performed, and in the end, Knoxville ,TN); Helen for ensemble artists accustomed to determined to officially formalize the Stolzfus (A Traveling consensus decision making. Jeff¹s Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET). Jewish Theatre, San gentle, resolute, and just slightly goofy From an idea hatched more than a Francisco), Jerry Stropnicky demeanor manages to keep the focus decade ago, this gathering of artists (Bloomsburg Theatre on the issues, not the process. Individ- dedicated to making work through Ensemble, Bloomsburg uals coming to camp included clown ensemble process has at last come to PA); and Sandy Timmer- Adam Gertsacov, writer Ferdinand see itself as a movement. man (Q-Staff, Albu- Irondale interns Dan and Josh Bacher in Maine. Lewis, and Avner Eisenberg, aka What emerged was a real querque NM). A Traveling Jewish Theatre (San “Avner the Eccentric” who led the entire organization with a realistic agenda. It was determined that any Francisco); Bloomsburg Theatre gathering in a creative workshop, and Those gathered decided to file Articles company that had sent representatives Ensemble (Bloomsburg, PA); Carpetbag opened an investigation into what it is of Incorporation for NET, to transform it to any past NET conference will be Theater Co. (Knoxville, TN); Community like to develop the same wonderful into a membership organization with a invited to become founding members Arts Network (Blacksburg, VA); piece for thirty years. to-be-determined dues structure, to of this new formal organization. This Cornerstone Theatre Company (Los The “campers” left Maine enhance the existing listserv and web total list includes more than 70 American Angeles); Dell’Arte Theatre Company fueled by the fun of a traditional site (ensembletheaters.net), to publish ensembles, veteran and new, big and (Blue Lake, CA); Hartbeat Ensemble Lobster Bake, slightly pungent with an electronic newsletter (you are read- small, in cities and rural towns, creating (Hartford, CT); Irondale Ensemble Project campfire memories, and with a ing it!), to explore touring and festival a wide variety of work. In the rush of (New York); Irondale Ensemble of deserved sense of accomplishment. By opportunities, and to gather again, the post-conference buzz, no one Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada); NaCL gathering, we grow in strength and somewhere in the United States some- should expect incorporation to happen Theatre (New York); Q-Staff knowledge. We begin to understand time in the next 18 months. NET will immediately: all of these efforts will (Albuquerque, NM); Sandglass ourselves a participants in a move- move toward hiring a part-time take time and considered investigation. Theatre (VT); San Francisco Mime ment, an ensemble movement that administrator to advance this agenda. What NET has now is a mandate and a Troupe; Strike Anywhere (New York); shares a kind of alternative operating Already in the works by NET are a map that will allow it to go forward. Theater Grottesco (Sante Fe, NM); system in the world theatre. We have Bibliography of Ensemble Studies, and The week-long “Gathering in Touchstone Theater (Bethlehem, PA); much to offer the rest of the world. an Ensemble Video Library. Efforts to Maine” featured workshops in Physical and Woman’s Will (San Francisco). identify and invite other ensembles, Theatre led by Q-Staff and NaCL, a For the past 15 years, Irondale especially ensembles of color, are look inside the work of A Traveling and its Canadian sister company (Iron- To find out more about the ongoing. Perhaps most exciting are Jewish Theatre, and Theater dale Ensemble of Halifax, Nova Scotia) Network of Ensemble Theaters or two upcoming books that focus on Grottesco, as well as inspiring have retired to Camp Winnebago for a member theaters visit the website at American ensembles, both being performances by Irondale, Irondale two-week creative retreat. In their www.ensembletheaters.net. edited or written by Ferdinand Lewis of Ensemble of Halifax, Nova Scotia, invitation to ensemble artists nation- Los Angeles. The first, projected to be Strike Anywhere, NaCL, and Joan wide, Irondale expressed a hope that

Roses in December continued from page 1 Davies put an even greater strain on Davies boys). Even Nana the maid/dog Both series feature the lives and daily Life is a long lesson in humility. his marriage. His wife was deeply dis- was a combination of his beloved comings and goings of the colorful By 1897, Barrie had established turbed at Barrie’s behavior, especially canine Porthos and the Davies’ nurse characters inhabiting their respective himself as a world-renowned play- in light of their own inability to start a Mary, who intensely disliked Barrie and towns. He had found a certain standing wright with the success of his play The family. Barrie spent every afternoon mistrusted his ultimate motives in in the literary community and with this Little Minister. The play broke all of the with the boys spinning tales to keep regards to the family as a whole and new standing he turned to his first Broadway records of the time. It was them amused and, just as importantly – the boys in particular. Barrie published desire –playwriting. during this artistically and commercially to keep them interested and connected a book entitled The Boy Castaways of The printing press is either the greatest rich time in his life that, while attending to him. They seemed to be the family Blacklake Island which included actual blessing or the greatest curse of modern a party, he was captivated by a woman that he could not have. He went on to photos of the Davies boys as they times – sometimes one forgets which it is. named Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, the immortalize the Davies family in his applied their playwriting/fantasy daughter of playwright George Du book The Little White Bird. abilities. It was also during this period Barrie enjoyed one success Maurier, an acquaintance of Barrie’s. It was during this time that Barrie that Barrie completed his creation of after another including works such as As they got to know each other that started to develop the literary theme of Peter by transforming him to Peter Pan Better Dead, My Lady Nicotine, What night, it became clear that they had a a “lost childhood”. The Davies boys – half boy, half bird, named after Pan - Every Woman Knows and, his first rather interesting connection: her son took him back to a time when he also the Greek god of shepherds and the stage success, Ibsen’s Ghost – a parody George was one of a small group children had been bold and carefree. This, forest. Represented with the head, of Hedda Gabler. He even received that Barrie had befriended through his along with the memory of his mother’s chest, and arms of a human and the favorable reviews from author (and storytelling during his afternoons in idea that her deceased son David legs, ears and horns of a goat, Pan rival) Henry James. In 1894, he married Kensington Park. After informing Mrs. would have “an eternal childhood” stands for unharnessed, instinctual actress Mary Ansell, whom he met Davies that her little Georgie had since he would never grow old, came sexuality, and lives in the natural, while she was performing in his play influenced one of the characters in The together in Barrie’s artistic conscious- unordered world. Peter Pan was Barrie’s Walker, London. Their marriage was Little Minister, she invited him to her ness to produce the character of Peter attempt to reconnect with the free, not a happy one. Their inability to have home. This was the beginning of a long – the boy who would never grow old. spontaneous, uninhibited child that had children (it’s unclear as to with whom relationship with the Davies family, as As time went on, Barrie developed the left him long ago. the medical malady lay) placed an well as the beginning of Peter Pan. world of Neverland (based on a vacation Peter Pan came to the stage unmanagable strain on their relation- Barrie became enmeshed with island he shared with the Davies family March 4, 1904 at 8:30pm. Under the ship. It eventually reached the point the day-to-day life of the Davies family, in the summer of 1901), Mrs. Darling direction of well-known Irish director where the only thing they could agree spending increasing amounts of time (Sylvia Davies), Mr. Darling (Arthur Don Bonicult, the play spun a magical on was their mutual love for their Irish with them – especially “the 5” boys – Davies), and the pirates and lost boys spell over it’s opening-night audience setter, Porthos (who would later influ- George, Michael, Peter, Jack and Nico. (courtesy of the many Kensington and went on to be a resounding success. ence the character of Nana in Peter His ingratiation into the life of the Gardens afternoon adventures of the Barrie’s combination of Neverland and Pan). Continued on page 8

7 Roses in December continued from page 1 Puer-et-senex continued from page 4 the real world struck a chord in the that London train came after making some point in history and in its place he thinks is expected from him. The audience: the desire to stay young, to additional discoveries about the nature the mother-son as lover dyad took neighbors have taken on the role of a dream and to fly. of Barrie’s involvement with his family; hold(Venus- etc.). The industri- control-mother, hence his struggle to As in other parts of his life, the among them that Barrie claimed that alization of the West solidified this be like them. In his desperate triumvirate of tragedy, sadness and the boys late mother Sylvia had seperation of father and son. The moments, he turns to Mrs.Darling, his death again came to drastically affect promised to marry Barrie. One could father (predominately the breadwinner) surrogate mother, to help him through Barrie’s life. In 1907, his wife Mary had conclude that Barrie’s love of, and now worked away home. The son the crisis, be it a tie that simply will not finally had enough of his “highly irreg- devotion to, the Davies children indeed spent the day at home with the mother. tie, or an insight. The service to the ular behavior” in regards to the Davies served as a poison as well as a potion. Thus, the son’s concept of adult male archetypal mother is kept up through family, and divorced him. That same As the years passed, despite was based more on the mother’s per- duty to one’s family, profession, partici- year, a cancer of the jaw befell Mr. other literary and theatrical successes, ception of the father as husband and pation and fullfillment in and of civic Davies and affected him to the extent Barrie could never come to terms with lover, rather than the father directly. and cultural life. These are the material that, after many operations to relieve the seemingly elusive concept of adult- The son developed into the mother’s provinces of the great goddess. Cultural his condition (which consisted of hood. He returned repeatedly to Peter. ideal of a man. institutions like church, school etc. start surgically cutting away parts of his face In 1936, Barrie wrote the play Jung says: “Too much mother representing the archetypal mother. and jaw), his wife found it virtually David And Saul, in which he seemed to and too much father can be as burden- Blind obedience to those institutions impossible to stay in the same room exploe what his relationship with the some an inheritance as too little. Mother can lead to the avoidance of one’s own with him. To add to the family’s misery, Davies family had wrought. In the play, becomes…Mother Welfare State, destiny. One does what one is asked to Mrs. Davies contracted what we now David and Saul, the first kings of Israel, Mother University, the beloved Alma do, not what one needs to do. know to be breast cancer and died haunt each other’s dreams. David is Mater, defended by father who Peter and Hook long for a later that year as well. Barrie followed what Saul has been and will return to; becomes Father Hierarchy, Father mother, yet keep her out of their through on the promise that he made Saul is what David dreams of becoming. Law, Father Status Quo. We uncon- domaine. Both instinctually sense her at Mrs. Davies’ deathbed – to care for They love each other, but Saul knows sciously introject the power inherent in power over their struggle to find their the Davies boys “as if they were he can only bring David harm, and sub- these archetypal figures which, in the destiny. They also avoid recognizing his own.” Through his celebrity and sequently drives him from his court. absence of the individuation process, each other as the opposite that is influence, he provided the best of The relationship of David and Saul can remain intact at an infantile level. So needed to complete the ambivalent everything for the boys: the best be seen as that of Peter and Hook. It is long as they remain intact, uninterrupted puer-senex duality. Therefore they schools (Oxford, Eton, Clarendon) said that David and Saul’s failure by the consciousness that can disem- stagger on to their other, pathologized summers in Scotland, Paris, etc. Each ultimately led to Barrie’s death in Lon- power them, the inner dictators enslave destiny. Hook, a bitter old man is con- of the boys reacted to his stewardship don in the spring of 1937. Despite the more cruelly than the outer.” Marie- sumed by the crocodile, swallowed by in different ways. George, who of the world of joy and magic that Barrie created Louise v. Frantz says the puer is kept death before his time. Peter is forever boys was the closest to Barrie, was for millions through the years with out of life by an overpossesive death- excluded from conciousness, never killed in WWI in 1915. Michael, who Peter Pan, his desire for acceptance, mother. He leads a provisional life, the able to gain an awareness of himself, arguably was Barrie’s favorite, drowned love, and the need for an acceptable instinctual mother-child bond turns into never able to grow up. in the Thames in 1921, in what many sense of real, adult life, in the end, an emotional tie determining the child’s Why were puer and senex suspected was a suicide pact with his seemed to elude him. life path into adulthood. separated? No simple answer can be male lover. Nicos and Jack went on to Mr.Darling is a perfect example given, Barrie struggled with this seper- Dreams do come true, if we only wish varying successes as well-respected of the proper mama’s boy. He has ation all his life. Every individual, hard enough. You can have anything English businessmen. internalized the good boy behavior to regardless of gender, seems to have to in life if you will sacrifice everything This brings us back to 63 year- such an extent that he is completely face this void in their lifes. else for it. enslaved by it. He does exactly what The individual and the collec- old Peter. His fall under the wheels of *All quotes J. M. Barrie tive psyche tend to beleive that outside of the order of conformity lies choas, SEPTEMBER 11TH HAS NOT STOPPED US. A Word About Our Box Office Policy... death and destruction. For the sake of PLEASE DON’T LET IT STOP YOU. conformity, society has sacricified the This year our ticket price will On the 10th of September, Irondale had just returned from hosting a viril, sexual, brash, violent relationship be $25 for a general admission seat. national ensemble theater conference in Maine. We were entering our 19th between boy-old man that once To those of you who are used to pay- Season confident about the programs and productions ahead and were enabled a boy to beccome an adult. ing $35-$50 for an Off-Broadway smack in the middle of our Annual Gifts Campaign. We all know what Recent history suggests that society ticket, this will seem cheap, and we happened next. The nation was shocked to a standstill. As the smoke cleared, needs to reevaluate this possition in are pleased to be able to offer you we mourned, we talked, we tried to heal each other and our friends and light of choas, death and destruction inexpensive quality theater. We also neighbors, but our Annual Gifts Campaign ground to a halt. that has happened within this conformity. know that there are many (if not Understandable? Of course! There were immediate needs, crises most) of you who will bridle at the and individuals to care for. But Irondale has promises to keep. We promised fact that we’ve had to raise our price. programs to schools, prisons, housing facilities and other community venues To you we say: “Have no fear – you THE COMPANY which were supposed to have been funded by state and local sources that can get discounts if you need them.” Jim Niesen are now cut. We promised our audience another season of challenging In fact, we have raised our full-price Terry Greiss theater. And we promised a full season of employment to our permanent tickets in order to qualify for more of Ken Rothchild ensemble of artists. Unlike some major corporations who have requested the discount ticket programs Michael-David Gordon government assistance and are still laying off thousands of employees, available, like TDF (Theatre Devel- Maria Knapp Irondale will not lay people off. opment Fund). It is still our firm Patrena Murray The work you will see on stage, the thousands of educators and belief that anyone who wants to Damen Scranton students we will serve this year and the activist voice that makes Irondale attend theater should be able to Jack Lush necessary to its community, can only exist by holding on to our company. afford it. Therefore we have settled Christianne Myers Help us continue our important mission. Help us continue to create socially- upon the following ticket prices: Chris Brandjes relevant theater that has the power to provoke, to change and to heal! Thursday night – Still and always Sven Miller Randy Glickman Your gift is fully tax deductible and will stretch a lot farther than your typical “PAY WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD” – that corporate bail-out. means no minimum and no Sarah Adams maximum – your choice! Marcelle Belgrave Dan Bacher Join the Irondale Mailing List All other performances – Josh Bacher $25 general admission Rezeile Caravaca Here are 4 ways you can guarantee that you’ll continue to receive The Irondale $15 student orsenior citizen Melissa Jayme Ensemble Project News. You’ll also hear from us about performances, spe- cial events and other Irondale activities. Call TDF to find out about group WITH sales and discount prices for our The Walter Thompson Orchestra 1. Call our office at (718) 488-9233 and leave a message with your name and address. productions. BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2. E-mail us at [email protected] With production costs totaling Barbara Hauben Ross, President 3. Visit our web site at www.irondale.org $100,000 and a potential audience Andrew Ackerman 4. Tear off this part of the page and send it to us at capacity of 2000, we would have to Lisbeth Andresen Irondale Ensemble Project sell out every night at $50 a seat to Gwen Anderson PO Box 150604 break even. That is something we Aduke Aremu Brooklyn, NY 11215 will not do. The “entertainment Anne Delaney marketplace” is not a game we Charles Mackenzie Fleischman Name choose to play. We are committed to Michael-David Gordon bringing you provocative, challenging Rory Greiss Address and innovative theater. We look Terry Greiss forward to the participation of a Andrew D. Lewis Phone number (optional) diverse and exciting audience. We Jay Kosminsky hope our ticket prices make it possible Jim Niesen Email (optional) for everyone.

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