Edina High School Thespians Winter Play: Peter and the Starcatcher, Jan 21, 22 & 23 @ 7pm /Edina Performing Arts Center

EHS presents high school premier of Disney play this week

Jan. 21, 22 & 23, 2016 at 7:00 pm / Edina Performing Arts Center / Tickets: edinatheater.org & at the door

Being in the right place at the right time snagged a prime opportunity for the EHS Thespians and their director, Tony Matthes. The troupe will be the first high school in the country to stage the Disney play, “Peter and the Starcatcher,” Jan. 21-23 at the Edina Performing Arts Center (EPAC). According to Matthes, it is both an honor and a challenge.

Last spring, when Matthes and members of the Thespians went on their biennial trip to New York City, one of their stops was publishing house Music Theatre International (MTI). While students toured the place, Senior Operations Office John Prignano pulled Matthes into an office.

“He told me that Disney wanted to pilot a high school production of ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ and asked if we would be interested,” Mattes said. “Absolutely!” Only three high schools in the country were chosen to pilot the play. EHS will be the first, followed by a high school in Las Vegas in March, and Kenosha, Wis., in April.

The play, based on a book written by humorist Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, has been a favorite on Broadway. It is a prequel to “Peter Pan” and offers an imaginative look into how Peter and Neverland came to be. The play is the property of Disney, who is developing a version to be released for production by high school drama departments. Since the play is in the pilot stage, Matthes was allowed to tinker with a few aspects. For instance, the play originally calls for a cast of 11 boys and one girl. But during summer read-throughs that Matthes opened up to any student who was interested, they identified 20 different characters. So the EHS cast includes 12 girls and eight boys.

Also, Matthes was originally told he would receive a director’s manual laying out the movement on stage. But in the end Disney turned him loose. “They said they wanted to see what we come up with,” Matthes said. That opened the door for lots of creative collaboration. The student cast and crew have had the opportunity to offer ideas. Other professional collaborators have stepped up, too, including Valley View Middle School parent Carl Flink, chair of the Theatre and Dance Department at the University of Minnesota, local professional actor Matt Rein, and even one of the “Peters” from the Broadway production, who has generously communicated with Matthes on a variety of topics.

Other aspects of the play were not as flexible. Any suggestions for changes to spoken lines had to be approved by Disney. Sometimes they allowed it, sometimes not. The artwork for the poster was non-negotiable. But Matthes is familiar with the process -- EHS has piloted two other plays in past years.

Representatives from Disney will be in the audience on closing night. And on other nights, representatives from MTI will attend and adjudicators from the International Thespian Festival. A high enough score from the adjudicators will mean the cast and crew will go into rehearsal mode again this spring for another performance at the festival in June.

While having so many special guests attending is exciting (and a bit stressful) Matthes is just as excited for local audiences to see the play, which is staged in a very non-traditional way. “There is no masking on stage – no back curtain or back stage,” he said. “And the entire cast is on stage all the time. We use very specific lighting to focus the audience’s attention.” And sometimes the cast addresses the audience directly. “That ‘fourth wall’ is broken,” Matthes said.

Peter Pan fans will learn the answers to age-old questions, like, how did Captain Hook lose his hand? And who are the Lost Boys? Children will enjoy the show, Matthes said, however it is a “cerebral play” written more with adults in mind. “Normally my director’s tell the audience to sit back, relax and enjoy,” Matthes said. “For this play, I am telling the audience to sit up, pay attention and imagine along with us.”

“Peter and the Starcatcher” will be performed Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 21-23, at 7 p.m. at the Edina Performing Arts Center. Reserved seats $12; general admission, $8 for adults, $6 for students and seniors. Tickets available at the door or online. Click here for ticket information: edinatheater.org