Foundation’s ‘Peter Pan’ takes flight

Join the Foundation Academy Lions in their journey to Neverland this November.

For the very first time, the school’s drama club will be performing JM Barrie’s original script of “Peter Pan.”

“I wanted to make sure that there was enough opportunity to have female parts who are female as opposed to just being male parts, so there was an option for the girls to not just play males but also play females if they wanted to,” drama club teacher Greg Csefko said.

It is a common tradition in both the musical and the play of Peter Pan to have a female play the role of Peter Pan. Csefko wanted to stick to that tradition, so ultimately, junior Holland Avery East was cast in the lead role.

“It was very surprising; I wasn’t expecting them to cast a girl,” she said. “I know Peter Pan is usually played by a girl, but it’s been a really long time since we’ve had a girl play a romantic male role — not really romantic, but still.”

The play has a few twists unique to the school. In the scenes in which Peter Pan, Wendy, John and Michael fly, the students who play the characters will be wearing Heelys shoes to make the motion more realistic.

“It seemed the most simple and cost-effective,” Csefko said. “There were a couple of other ways to do it that were a bit too challenging for the space that we have and a little too overpriced to what we could do budget-wise. … I think the audience and the parents will really enjoy that experience and uniqueness in that sense.”

For East, learning to use the Heelys has been a challenge, but she said she is looking forward to mastering the skill.

In addition to the Heelys, the play also incorporates audience-interactive scenes throughout its duration, allowing parents and loved ones of the students to feel like they are part of the play and in Neverland.

East is excited to portray her own interpretation of Peter Pan and bring it to life in front of an audience.

“In past roles, it’s been pretty black-and-white about how to act,” she said. “But I think, especially in this version of Peter Pan, he’s such a complicated character, and you need a motivation for everything you do. I really enjoyed interpreting the character on my own way and figuring out why he’s doing all that stuff.”

For Csefko, this play represents much more than just providing the children with a place to express themselves and cultivate their love for the performing arts.

“I love the idea of imagination and the imagination of a child and the fact that what children bring everyday is an open mind and a sense of awe to everything that they can bring into a situation,” he said. “To be able to convey that to an audience and maybe touch somebody in the audience who is a bit older who’s gone through life just to remind them what it was like to be a child again, I think would be a really magical experience.”