Study Guide for Educators

Study Guide for Educators A Musical Based on the Play by Sir James M. Barrie Music by Mark Charlap Additional Music by Jule Styne Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh Additional Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green Originally Adapted and Directed by Jerome Robbins 1 This production of Peter Pan is generously sponsored by: Ng & Ng Dental and Eye Care Joan Gellert-Sargen Jerry & Sharon Melson Ron Tindall, RN Welcome to the Pacific Conservatory Theatre A NOTE TO THE TEACHER Thank you for bringing your students to the Pacific Conservatory Theatre at Allan Hancock College. Here are some helpful hints for your visit to the Marian Theatre. The top priority of our staff is to provide an enjoyable day of live theatre for you and your students. We offer you this study guide as a tool to prepare your students prior to the performance. SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENT ETIQUETTE Note-able behavior is a vital part of theater for youth. Going to the theater is not a casual event. It is a special occasion. If students are prepared properly, it will be a memorable, educational experience they will remember for years. 1. Have students enter the theater in a single file. Chaperones should be one adult for every ten students. Our ushers will assist you with locating your seats. Please wait until the usher has seated your party before any rearranging of seats to avoid injury and confusion. While seated, teachers should space themselves so they are visible, between every groups of ten students. Teachers and adults must remain with their group during the entire performance. 2. Once seated in the theater, and prior to the show starting, students may go to the bathroom in small groups and with the teacher's permission. Please chaperone younger students. Once the show is over, please have your students remain seated until the House Manager dismisses your school. 3. Please remind your students that we do not permit: • food, gum, drinks, smoking, backpacks or large purses • disruptive talking, disorderly or inappropriate behavior (stepping on/over seats, throwing objects, etc.) • cameras, iPods, cell phones, audio or video recorders, hand-held video games. (Adults are asked to put any cell phones on silent or vibrate.) If students are wearing shoes that light up, we ask to please have them turned off for the duration of the performance. In cases of disorderly behavior, groups may be asked to leave the theater without ticket refunds. 2 4. Teachers should take time to remind students before attending the show of the following about a live performance: Sometimes we forget when we come into a theatre that we are one of the most important parts of the production. Without an audience there would be no performance. Your contribution of laughter, quiet attention and applause is part of the play. When we watch movies or television we are watching images on a screen, and what we say or do cannot affect them. In the theatre the actors are real people who are present and creating an experience with us at that very moment. They see and hear us and are sensitive to our response. They know how we feel about the play by how we watch and listen. An invisible bond is formed between actors and a good audience, and it enables the actors to do their best for you. A good audience helps make a good performance. The Pacific Conservatory Theatre welcomes you as a partner in the live theatre experience from the moment you take your seats. We hope that your visit will be a highlight of your school year. Creative Team and Cast Director MarkBooher Assistant Director Kitty Balay Choreographer Katie Fuchs-Wackowski Music Director Callum Morris Scenic Designer Jason Bolen Costume Designer Eddy L. Barrows Lighting Designer Tim Thistleton Sound Designer Elisabeth Weidner Fight Choreographer Peter S. Hadres Voice and Dialect Coach Kitty Balay Production Stage Manager Christine Collins* 3 Cast of Characters Peter Pan Chynna Walker Wendy Darling Madison Davis John Darling Maddie Almaguer Beck Mortensen Michael Darling Joss Robertson Claire Guyader Nana / Tink Whitney Bacon Mrs. Darling / Grown-Up Wendy Emily Trask* Mr. Darling / Captain Hook George Walker Smee Amani Dorn* Starkey Peter S. Hadres* Noodler Andrew Philpot* Cecco Yusef Seevers Bill Jukes Brian Bohlender Mullins Christian Zumbado Cookson Jesse Baxter Alf Mason Parker Harris Slightly Soiled Kyle Burrow Twin 1 Joshua Ponce Twin 2 Alex Guersman Tootles Gisela Feied Curly Jonathan Valerio Nibs Sabrina Orro Tiger Lily Katie Fuchs-Wackowski Violet Tori Ortega Bluebelle Michaela Ferroggiaro Daisy Brooke Johnson Primrose Taylor Hart Petunia Charlotte Baldiviez Poppy Holly Vander Hyde Jane Romy Evans *Member, Actor’s Equity Association (Actors' Equity Association (“Equity"), founded in 1913, is the U.S. labor union that represents more than 51,000 professional Actors and Stage Managers. Equity fosters the art of live theatre as an essential component of society and advances the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. Actors' Equity is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions.) 4 Chynna Walker as Peter Pan HOW TO USE THIS STUDY GUIDE The Study Guide is a companion piece designed to explore many ideas depicted in the stage production of Peter Pan. Although the guide's intent is to enhance the student's theatrical experience, it can also be used as an introduction to the elements of a play (in this case a play with music), and the production elements involved in the play's presentation. Although many students are familiar with the general storyline, this specific stage adaptation presents a wealth of new questions for this generation to answer. The guide has been organized into three major sections: Elements of the Story. Elements of Production, Activities. Teachers and group leaders will want to select portions of the guide for their specific usage. Discussion questions are meant to provoke a line of thought about a particular topic. The answers to the discussion questions in many instances will initiate the process of exploration and discovery of varied interpretations by everyone involved. This can be as rewarding as the wonderful experience of sight and sound that Peter Pan creates on- stage. It is recommended that the James M. Barrie book or play, available in paperback at local libraries or book stores, be used in conjunction with discussion of the play. 5 ELEMENTS OF THE STORY Madison Davis as Wendy Darling Chynna Walker as Peter Pan STORY SYNOPSIS Act I - The Darling Nursery As Mr. and Mrs. Darling prepare for an evening out, two of their children, Wendy and John, play their parents. When Mrs. Darling comes in and sees Michael is left out, she gets him in the game and joins in with all of them ("1, 2, 3") while their nursemaid, the dog Nana, watches. Mr. Darling comes in to have his tie tied, and he questions using a dog as a nursemaid, but Mrs. Darling defends her. The previous week, while the children slept, Nana was surprised to see a boy in the room. Before she could catch him, he flew out the window. She did manage to catch his shadow, however, which Mrs. Darling has tucked away in a drawer. Nevertheless, Mr. Darling insists that Nana spend the night downstairs. Mrs. Darling and the children sing a lullaby ("Tender Shepherd"). The children fall asleep. A fairy, Tinker Bell, and Peter Pan fly in through the window. Tinker Bell shows Peter where his shadow is hidden. He tries to reattach it and starts to cry when he cannot get it to stick. Wendy wakes up and asks, "Boy, why are you crying?" When he explains, she offers to sew his shadow to his foot. Peter is thrilled when his shadow is reattached ("I've Gotta Crow"). Peter tells Wendy about how he has lived a long time among the fairies, and how one of them dies every time a child says he or she does not believe in fairies. Peter tries to introduce Wendy to Tinkerbell (who accidentally got shut in the drawer when Peter found his shadow), but Tink is jealous and will not be polite. Wendy asks where he comes from, and Peter tells her of his island, called Neverland ("Never Never Land"). Peter says he sometimes came to Wendy's window to listen to her mother's stories and tells them to the Lost Boys, forgotten children who end up living in Neverland; Wendy says she will tell him and the Lost Boys all the stories she knows, if Peter will let her bring Michael and John along, to 6 which Peter agrees. Wendy wakes her brothers up, and Peter invites them all to Neverland, and promises to teach them to fly. They happily agree and ask Peter to show them. Peter happily launches himself into the air ("I'm Flying"). Peter covers the kids in fairy dust and tells them to "think lovely thoughts." Soon the children are flying just like Peter. ("I'm Flying - Reprise") Grabbing some belongings, the children follow Peter and fly through the night to Neverland. George Walker as Captain Hook Never Land Peter's "Lost Boys" are standing outside their underground lair, wondering when he will return, when they hear Captain Hook and his pirates ("Pirate Song"). The boys hide; one of them runs into a pirate who chases him, but Hook stops him, trying to keep his men quiet, in fear of being ambush by a tribe of Neverland called the Brave Girls. Hook sends his men to search for all the Boys, and tells Smee, his right-hand man, that he wants to kill Peter most of all, because Peter is the one who cut off his hand and threw it to a crocodile, which has developed a taste for Hook and follows him around, hoping to eat more of him, but luckily ate a clock that ticks and will alert Hook to its presence.

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