OCPAC Hosts Special Benefit Performance Of PETER PAN 10/17

The 6 p.m. Sunday, October 17 performance of threesixtyº entertainment's spectacular stage production of PETER PAN will be a special fundraising performance to benefit the Festival of Children Foundation, Orange County Museum of Art, South Coast Repertory and Orange County Performing Arts Center. J M Barrie's classic story is being performed at the Center through November 21 in a state-of-the-art theater pavilion. Conceived by an award-winning creative team and
featuring 22 actors, stunning puppets, epic music, dazzling flying sequences and the world's first 360-degree CGI theater set, PETER PAN is an extraordinary experience. The performance is at 6 p.m., and tickets remain at the regular prices of $30 to $75, with premium pricing available.

Orange County Performing Arts Center President Terry Dwyer said, "This production of Peter Pan offers a unique opportunity for collaboration between the resident institutions of our campus and the Festival of Children Foundation, one that illustrates a shared dedication to the education and welfare of children in our community.

The proceeds from the October 17 performance will support each institution's programs that help to enrich the lives of young people through the arts, engaging them in positive and meaningful ways which we hope will have a lasting impact on their lives."

The Orange County Register critic Paul Hodgins said "A new traveling production of 'Peter Pan,'
presented in a tent in Costa Mesa by London-based Three Sixty Productions, celebrates the magic and the message of the story in a way that's true to Barrie's vision yet still ultimately joyous, playful and uplifting. Above all, this 'Peter Pan' is grandly and unabashedly theatrical - an appropriate homage, since Barrie's creation began more than a century ago as a play."

One of the most striking elements of this new production is the setting in which it is presented. The
threesixty° Theatre allows for performance "in the round" in a 1,300-seat theater tent, which stands beside the Orange County Performing Arts Center's Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Special behind-the-scenes "Into Neverland" tours will be available weekly Saturday at 11 a.m. throughout the run.

The entire interior of the tent is lit with more than 15,000 square feet of Hi-Resolution video - three times the size of Imax screens - so that both cast and audience are immersed in a CGI Neverland. When Peter and Wendy fly to Neverland, the audience flies with them over 400 square miles of virtual London and beyond.

Tickets to see PETER PAN are $30 to $75. Premium ticket packages are also available, and include admission to the performance, drink voucher, souvenir brochure, PETER PAN audio book and PETER PAN memorabilia. They are available at OCPAC.org, at the Center's Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling 714.556.2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 15 or more, call the Group Services office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746.

Beneficiaries of this Special Performance include:

Festival of Children Foundation
Festival of Children Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Its mission is to improve the lives of children by strengthening the charities that serve them. The organization was founded in 2002 by Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, a leading business professional and children's advocate who saw an opportunity to bring charities together to collaborate.

One hundred percent of administrative costs are covered by committed funding, allowing donations to go further in direct support of programs and services that improve the lives of children. They currently serve over 400 member organizations nationwide that support an endless number of causes, from cancer research to arts programs for children.

Orange County Museum of Art
The Orange County Museum of Art is dedicated to enriching the lives of a diverse and changing
community through modern and contemporary art. The premier visual arts museum in Orange County, OCMA serves a population of nearly three million residents in one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States. The museum's program of dynamic solo exhibitions and landmark group shows links historical and contemporary art and ideas, bridges local and global perspectives, and embraces a diverse array of cultural activities and media.

South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 and continuing today under the leadership of Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson, is widely regarded as one of America's foremost producers of new plays. In its three-stage Folino Theatre Center, SCR produces a five-play season on its Segerstrom Stage, a four-play season on its Argyros Stage, plus an annual holiday production. SCR also offers a three-play Theatre for Young Audiences series, and year-round programs in education and outreach.

SCR's extensive new play development program consists of commissions, residencies, readings and
workshops. Among the plays Among the plays commissioned and introduced at SCR are Donald Margulies' Sight Unseen and Brooklyn Boy; Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain, Everett Beekin and The Violet Hour; David Henry Hwang's Golden Child, Jose Rivera's References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel, Craig Lucas' Prelude to a Kiss, Amy Freed's The Beard of Avon, Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit and David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole. Most of these plays were developed through its Pacific Playwrights Festival, an annual workshop and reading showcase. More than 40 percent of the plays SCR has produced have been world, American or West Coast premieres. In 1988, SCR received the Regional Theatre Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement.

Orange County Performing Arts Center
The Orange County Performing Arts Center presents a broad range of programming each season for
audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County and beyond, including international ballet and
dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It is Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization as well as the artistic home to Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Pacific Chorale.

The Center offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.