BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival and Burning Coal Theatre Company Present PETER PAN AND WENDY

BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival and Burning Coal Theatre Company will present Peter Pan and Wendy in Cleveland this summer. The original adaptation, created by director Lillian White in collaboration with the ensemble, is based on J.M. Barrie's beloved novel and premiered in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2017. Showtimes are July 26th at 7:30 pm and July 27th at 1:30 pm and 7:00 pm at the Old Stone Church (Memorial Hall) in Cleveland's Public Square. Tickets can be purchased for the individual shows for $12, or with a "Binge-on-Fringe!" discount pass of four ($40) or eight ($70) tickets. BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival is a new festival of contemporary theatre featuring 100 theatrical performances by companies from around the world. The festival takes place in indoor and outdoor venues from Public Square to Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland, July 24-27, 2019. Further information can be found at www.borderlightcle.org

Lillian White and Burning Coal Theatre Company based their production on J.M. Barrie's extensive writings about Peter Pan. Barrie first created his immortal Peter Pan in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, depicting Peter as a baby living among birds and faeries. In the stage version (1904), Barrie created the Peter we know today, along with such unforgettable characters as Wendy, Tinkerbell, Captain Hook, and a certain fearsome crocodile. With the novel Peter and Wendy (1911), Barrie continue to explore themes of love and imagination in this coming of age tale. Bringing a contemporary perspective to this wealth of material, White's production follows the children's adventures in Neverland through the eyes of Wendy and her daughter Jane. Through make-believe that becomes all too real in battles with the fiercest lady on the seas, Captain Hook, Wendy discovers that to love truly is to risk loss - but to risk loss at the ticking hands of time is to embrace the possibility of loving truly.

Lillian White directed and co-wrote the play in collaboration with members of the Burning Coal Theatre Company. Lillian holds a BA in Performance studies from Oberlin College. Her directing credits include And Yet We'll Speak (an original play devised with incarcerated men), The Tempest and Othello (Oberlin Drama at Grafton, an ensemble of incarcerated men), and Terra Incognita (Oberlin College). As an assistant director, Lillian worked on Darkside and Written on the Heart (Burning Coal) and Shana Cooper's Julius Caesar (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Theatre for a New Audience). Lillian completed SDCF Observerships with director-choreographers Steven Hoggett and Andy Blankenbuehler in New York, trained at Double Edge Theatre in New England, and the Dell 'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in California. www.lillianwootenwhite.com

Hugo Beckett will play Peter. Beckett graduated from Columbia College in Chicago and their past credits include Dying For It, Harlowe, and Dog Sees God (Columbia College). Shawn Morgenlander will play Wendy. She currently resides in the Triangle area of North Carolina where she was most recently played #14 in The Wolves at Sonorous Road Theatre. Julie Oliver returns as Mrs. Darling and Captain Hook and Mr. Darling will be played by Mark Filiaci. The cast also includes Joe Appel, Ben Apple, Mary Lynn Bain, Benaiah Barnes, and Ford Nelson.

The production team includes Jerome Davis (Artistic Director, Burning Coal Theatre) and Christy Rose of Denver (Sound & Composition). Paul Levine of South Florida is the Production Stage Manager, with Thom Haynes serving as Assistant Stage Manager. Katy Werlin served as the Costume Designer for the original Raleigh premiere, with Assistant Costume Designer Chelsea Mills supporting this production. Elizabeth Newton provided the original Scenic and Props design.

Burning Coal Theatre Company is one of Raleigh's intimate, professional theatres and an incorporated, non-profit [501 (c) (3)] organization. Burning Coal's mission is to produce literate, visceral, affecting theatre that is experienced, not simply seen. Burning Coal produces explosive reexaminations of overlooked classic and modern plays, as well as new plays, whose themes and issues are of immediate concern to our audience. We work toward a theatre of high-energy performances and minimalist production values. The emphasis is on literate works that are felt and experienced viscerally, unlike more traditional linear plays, at which audiences are most often asked to observe without participating. Race and gender non-specific casting is an integral component of our perspective, as well as an international viewpoint.