Directors' Notes

The story of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, has inspired generations through its many iterations. With hours and hours of continuous play, I essentially melted my first VHS copy of Mary Martin’ Peter Pan. I vividly remember watching it on replay, rewinding the tape again and again to watch Wendy, John, and Michel fly off with Peter to Neverland. When I first saw Peter and the Starcatcher in NYC during its Broadway run in 2012, I became immediately enamored with this new Peter, his band of rag-tag orphan buddies, the admirable hero Molly, and of course, the man who would become Captain Hook, Black Stache.  Peter and the Starcatcher, conceived for the stage by directors, Roger Rees and Alex Timbers, and written by Rick Elice, with music by Wayne Barker, is the story of how Peter became Pan, an adventure of epic proportions and whimsical interludes. This story explores the depths of greed, despair, imperialism, the bonds of friendship, duty, change, and ultimately asks us all to reconsider our understanding of what “home” is. At a time when the world is rapidly changing, we are being forced to reckon with our existence and how our assumptions are easily weaponized. This play offers a way in, to talk about these issues and create a space of open communication. Only through each artists contribution is this play able to live. So, I invite you to come fly away to a Neverland you never knew, to a world of infinite possibilities and small traveling quarters, where swashbuckling pirates, a starcatcher in training, and a posse of orphans embark of a breathtaking quest of the limitless possibilities of imagination.

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- Ryan Patrick Lingle