GROWING UP IN NEVERLAND

Date of Run: November 13-21, 2009
ROLE: Parent, Centipede, John


My theatrical debut was in my junior year of college. It was not exactly what I envisioned, but you gotta start somewhere.  

 

By my junior year I had mostly completed my general education courses which then allowed me more free time to take classes for fun and time for activities. That year the season consisted of Dancing at Lughnasa (which had been cast in May), Growing Up in Neverland (a new play written by Theatre Department faculty member Judy Navas), the musical Company, and The Imaginary Invalid. The shows being cast in August were Growing Up in Neverland and Company. I hoped to do Company (as did everyone else with musical experience who was auditioning), but as Company consisted of only six male roles, only the best would be taken and that was definitely not me. Instead, I was called back for and cast in Neverland as Parent/Centipede/Child.

It was here that I made new friends: Sara Cofiell, Chuck Fanucchi, Rich Nickson, Stephanie Halbert, Christine Ormseth, Jacob Marks, and Paul MacKinnon, Ryan Harrington, Megan Cofiell, Lisa Kusanagi and even a couple of junior college students. They were all really nice people. Later on, during our tech week, I met Chris Colburn, who was one of the stagehands as well as a fellow actor.

Growing Up in Neverland was a 90-minute play written and directed by faculty member Judy Navas, a really delightful woman. It was a new, interesting take on Peter Pan. It was partially inspired by the musical version starring Mary Martin. In this version the play opened in a theatre house in London with James Barry talking to the stagehand Lester. As they talk characters from the Peter Pan world emerge into their world. Then a young actress playing Wendy returns to the theatre searching for something. A moment later the real Wendy enters. Sometime later they are joined by Peter Pan, Captain Hook and eventually The Crocodile. They are transported to Neverland. In Neverland the Lost Boys have become dissatisfied with living with Peter and wish to return to the real world. After the main characters arrive, Peter and Hook are captured by a giant spider who is defeated by the croc. All the characters reveal what they wish to do with their lives, including Peter. The Lost Boys leave Neverland followed by the main characters. Back in the theatre house children are playing when the characters return. They stage the ending scene of the play, but cannot finish. Peter returns and all is right.

The play consisted of new songs with lyrics by Judy and music by music department faculty member Jeff Langley. In the first few rehearsals we were shown the designs for the set and all the costumes and in some cases, including mine, puppets. Jeff then took us into a room in Ives Hall. Sitting at a grand piano he played and explained the music. I would not have any singing until the final song and only a few bars. Our music director was Liam Robertson. The music was not easy for anyone right from the start. The complex music coupled with the fact that only two of the principal characters were singers made Liam's work cut out for him. He worked extensively with everyone going over the same lines over and over. Jacob had only one line in one song to sing, but it was very high, and he had to work with a vocal teacher at SSU to improve his singing. Ryan's song was difficult because it jumped octaves. The final song was sung mostly by Christine. It was literally a roller coaster from low notes to high notes. Even my few bars of singing were insufferable.

Since this was my first show ever, it was a real learning experience for me for I had to learn theatre practices I was not aware of when I watched plays. I had to learn to project. I had to learn to cheat out. When I was told to do that, I looked at Judy as if to say, "What the hell are you talking about?" The more seasoned actors explained what it meant. I had to learn an English accent and speak as an adult and child (the best I could). As the centipede I could play around with my voice. I learned there as more to my voice than I previously thought. I also had to learn to apply stage makeup.

Problems arose when we moved into Person Theatre, first with one of the main actors. I've forgotten his name as I have not seen him since, but one day Judy took aside the actor playing Lester and spoke with him in the lobby. When she came back, she told us she dismissed him for not taking rehearsal seriously. That had been obvious because I saw him playing games on his cellphone while we were rehearsing. I had a bit of a panic attack after this because I feared she'd do the same to me. I was not very confident in my abilities and feared I was so bad I'd be thrown out. Thankfully I wasn't. The replacement for Lester was a junior college actor named Noah, who really worked hard in the role. More problems arose closer to opening.

Rich Nickson's headpiece, which was huge, had to be replaced to make it easier for him to move and make it easier on his neck. A few times Judy changed lines and other moments of the play in an attempt to make the difficult technical parts easier such as the end of the first part which included strobe lights. I know Judy cared very much about the project, but looking back, I think the play would've been better as a cartoon or on T.V. 

I learned about tech weekend and rehearsals, which meant getting all the light and sound cues to work and work with the set changes. Tech weekend was like jury duty. In the first act I was only on stage for 15 or 20 seconds in the very beginning. Then I was forced to wait for hours until I was needed again. In the second act, I was the centipede, which meant I stood under the stage wearing black clothing, covered by a scrim holding up a puppet. In the third act I had to be onstage as a child. It was a grueling two days. I learned to bring something to do for future tech weekends, like a book to read.

The puppet I used, a centipede.

 

 



Opening night, I'll never forget how I felt. I kept thinking to myself as I waited in the wings for my first entrance "I'm in a play! I'm on the stage! I'm here, I'm finally here!" My projection was very good. My parents had no problem hearing me even from the back of the house.



Act 1 Costume

Act 3 costume

There were really no problems during the show though one performance I forgot to grab my black gloves for the second act. I sent word via Rich Nickson to a crew member. I was forced to hide my hands until someone came running with them, slipped them on me and I carried on. My quick change was easy for me because I learned how to perfect it during tech rehearsals. After the insect characters left the stage, we had about seven minutes to change for the third act. I had it easy compared to the girls.

The best part of the show was thought by many to be the slide. The slide was hidden under the scrim. The main actors would leave the stage at the end of the first act and slide down into the pit and then run to get back onstage again. I had to wait until they all were out of the way before I could get into my standing position at the foot of the slide.

The Slide



It was not until the final performance when major problems arose. First Noah got laryngitis and we all worried how he'd do the show. Poor Noah did the best he could, and we all felt for him, but we could tell he was struggling. Then a piece of the set broke. In the transition between the second and third act the main characters would fly from Neverland to London in a boat (really a high platform on wheels) and that night a wheel broke. The boat stopped just short of where it needed to be. The cast members tried to ad-lib out of it, though it was obvious something was wrong. I was standing in the wings on stage right watching the whole thing and just cracking up. Eventually the stagehands brought the set (which would rotate) closer to the boat and somehow got it off the stage. We were happy that passed.

When I look back it was not one of my favorite shows to do, but it was my debut and that was what made it worth it.