PETER AND THE STARCATCHER
By Rick Elice
Music by Wayne Barker
This Tony award winning play upends the century-old story of how a miserable orphan boy becomes the legendary Peter Pan. Uniting the orphans to protect the magic of the community, proving that leaders can come from anywhere. The popular novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson is transformed into a fast-paced, wildly theatrical adventure for the stage.
Performed in Fisher Theater - April 16, 17 & 18 at 7:30 pm and April 19 at 2:00 pm
Youth Matinee April 17 at 10:00 am
AUDITIONS
Tuesday November 11th 6pm – 10pm in Carver 308
Callbacks for Starcatcher will be held Wednesday November 12th
Note, the SignUp for Starcatcher and Revolutionists are two separate sign-ups!
Audition Requirements:
Please prepare a contemporary monologue (90 seconds or less) as well as a song (30-seconds or less) that can be performed either a cappella or self-accompanied on an instrument of your choice. Starcatcher is NOT a musical, it is a play with music. While it does include some songs, music, and choreography, the plot is not driven by song.
Audition form will be filled out upon arrival. Please be prepared to list all times you are unable to rehearse due to class, work and other commitments. Tentative rehearsal schedule is Monday – Friday 6-10pm beginning approximately February 16th and running through mandatory tech and production week, ending April 19th.
Directors Notes:
Peter and the Starcatcher is an ensemble heavy production. Actors need to be comfortable with movement, music, and being part of an atmosphere that is collaborative, adaptable, and ever-changing.
CHARACTERS
THE ORPHANS
Boy (Peter): A boy who doesn’t miss much. Nameless, homeless, and friendless at
the beginning of the play and a hero by the end. A survivor. More than anything in
the world, he wants a home and a family. If he could grow up, he’d fall for Molly in
a big way. But it’ll never happen.
Prentiss: Ambitious, hyper-articulate, logical; yearns to be a leader, even as he
knows in his heart that he never shall be one. A bit of a blowhard with just the
teeny-tiniest touch of cowardice.
Ted: Obsessed with food: the eating of, the fighting over, the dreaming about.
A natural actor, an easy wit, perhaps a future poet. Called “Tubby” by Prentiss,
though not due to girth, of which orphans, given their meager diets, have very little
indeed.
THE BRITISH SUBJECTS
Lord Leonard Aster: The very model of a Victorian English gentleman, loyal
subject to the Queen, devoted father, faithful friend. Also, and not irrelevant to our
story, Lord Aster is a Starcatcher— dedicated to protecting the Earth and all who
dwell thereon from the awesome power of starstuff.
Molly Aster: A true leader at a time when girls are mostly followers. Will risk
everything for the sake of Doing Right. Curious, intelligent, beginning to feel things
she doesn’t yet understand — romantic longings that revert to childish tantrums
under pressure — because, after all, she’s a thirteen-year-old kid. She'll be a great
woman one day.
Mrs. Bumbrake: Molly’s nanny. British to the bone. Still has enough of her girlish
charm to turn a sailor’s head and leaven his dreams. Stiff in the lip, loose in the hip,
fun ona ship.
Captain Robert Falcon Scott: Captain of the Britain’s fastest frigate, the Wasp.
Years later, he would lead an expeditionary team to the South Pole, freeze to death,
and become the iconic British hero, Scott of the Antarctic.
Grempkin: The mean and malodorous schoolmaster of St. Norbert’s Orphanage for
Lost Boys. Likes to keep his boys in the dark, as sunlight is known to feed rebellious
notions, and on account of the preference in certain quarters for lads that are white and
pasty.
THE SEAFARERS
Bill Slank: The Neverland’s vicious captain, without the skill or quality to lead
anyone but himself - and always into disaster. A greedy bastard who'd sell his own
mother for a ship to command and send boys to their doom for the favor of those
who would use starstuff for personal gain, global domination, or worse. An
orphan, too.
Alf: An old sea dog. Something about him appeals to the feminine sensibility —
might be his bow legs, his saucy gait, or his kind heart.
Mack: A very bad sailor who wants to be anywhere but under the thumb of Bill
Slank.
Black Stache: Long after everyone else got out of the pirate business, Black Stache
continues to terrorize the seven seas in search of a hero worthy of his villainy.
Famous for his face foliage, he started shaving at age ten, had a bushy handlebar
by eleven, and the blood of twenty crews on his hands by twelve. Heartless and
hirsute, suspiciously well read, partial to the poetical and theatrical, and given to a
ferocity from which no good shall ever spring.
Smee: First mate to Black Stache. Single-mindedly dedicated to his captain’s every
whim. His motto: “’Tis good to be busy.”
Sanchez: A hard-working Spanish pirate with an identity crisis.
THE NATIVES
Fighting Prawn: King of the Mollusks, son of Jumbo Prawn and Littleneck Clam.
Kidnapped by British sailors and brought in chains to England, he served as sous
in a country estate in Derbyshire, where, for no good reason, he learned Italian
wines and mastered Italian cuisine. Since returning to his island kingdom, he
vengefully murders any English with the temerity to land on his Mollusk Isle
domain.
Hawking Clam: Son of Fighting Prawn and Sweet’n’sour Shrimp. One day, he will
ascend the Clam throne as head of the Royal Clam Clan.
Teacher: Formerly a salmon; now an ancient, knowledgeable mermaid.
Ensemble: Sailors; Seamen; Seafarers; Orphans; Pirates; Mermaids; Mollusks; Narrators
Note: Most actors will double multiple ensemble roles as well as being a part of the
physical ensemble to help create the world of play.