Churchill Senior Helping Design Magical Peter Pan Set

It is spring break in Montgomery County so the parking lots at Churchill High School are empty and the theater is dark.  But with the opening of Peter Pan only three weeks away, the students involved in this production are using their vacations to prepare.  Actors are rehearing lines, musicians are practicing songs, and at least one Churchill senior is planning how to help her classmates fly through the air while set pieces spin beneath them.

The Peter Pan in Potomac blog is pleased to launch our “Meet the Seniors” series with the backstage interview of Emily Potter.  Together with Evan Cook and Steven Miller, Emily is the student tech director and production design director for Churchill’s spectacular presentation of Peter Pan, which opens Friday, April 19.

A theater veteran and fixture at countless Churchill productions, Emily says she joined tech as a freshman because of its “friendship aspect,” and because “everyone told me that tech is like one big family.”  She added, “they were right!”

As a junior, after a discussion with technical director Scott Selman, Emily tried her hand at set design, which became her passion.  And for the past several weeks,  Emily has been collaborating with her two colleagues to design exactly what the audience will see on stage during Peter Pan.

Emily explains that the key concept of the show’s design is to "get into the mind of children."  This is in keeping with director Lynda Scionti’s vision that the production “will enthusiastically embrace the magic of childhood.”  As Emily puts it, “children’s minds are not stationary; they whiz from one thing to the next.  We are building a very dynamic set filled with moving platforms that spin from place to place.”  She added, “we wanted a set the actors could climb on that would be something really fun for the audience to watch.”  “Like a playground,” she concluded.

Of course, another critical component of the show’s technical presentation will be flight.  As Mr. Selman stated, “Peter Pan is one of the most technically complex shows we’ve ever staged at Churchill.”  Referring to Emily and her cohorts, he added emphatically, “We have an amazing group of seniors on our tech crew and we have been looking for a good project to really help push their creative boundaries.”

Mr. Selman is not the only one who feels this way about Emily, who has been accepted to three colleges for set design.  Asked of her emotions when the curtain closes on her final Churchill production, Emily said, “I will feel really nostalgic.  But then it will be time to move on to the next stage of my life.”

Emily reminds Patch readers that Peter Pan will be presented Friday, April 19 at 7:30pm, Saturday, April 20 at 2:00pm and 7:30pm, and Sunday, April 21 at 2:00pm.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.wchsarts.com.  Group sales can be placed with Mr. Selman by contacting him at Scott_A_Selman@mcpsmd.org.