Burning Coal's Diverse, Devised PETER PAN & WENDY Takes Flight
By: BWW News Desk Nov. 02, 2017
Burning Coal Theatre Company will present the world premiere of Peter Pan & Wendy, adapted from the beloved children's novel of JM Barrie by Lillian White and Burning Coal Theatre Company, directed by Lillian White. The play will run November 30, December 1 - 2, 7 - 9, 14 - 16, 2017 at 7:30 pm and December 2, 3, 9, 10, 16 and 17th at 2 pm at Burning Coal's Murphey School Auditorium, 224 Polk Street, Raleigh, NC 27604. Tickets are $25 regular admission or $20 for seniors (65+) or $15 for students, teachers and active military. Student Rush tickets at curtain time, if available, are $5 apiece. The first Sunday, December 3rd at 2 pm, is Pay What You Can Day and will be Audio described by Arts Access. All Thursday performances are $15 as are group tickets (10+) for any performance. Tickets and further information can be found at www.burningcoal.org or by calling 919.834.4001.
ABOUT PETER PAN & WENDY
Lillian White and Burning Coal Theatre Company are creating this new adaptation of the JM Barrie novel Peter and Wendy. The play will include all the beloved characters, including Peter, Wendy, Tinkerbell, Mr. & Mrs. Darling, John, Michael and that crusty old weasel, Captain Hook (as well as a certain fearsome crocodile). The stories were originally spun by Barrie for his own children under the title Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. In the original stories, Peter was a baby living with birds and faeries. In the stage version, Barrie created the Peter that we know, the flying Boy hero of Neverland (1904). That play was made into the novel Peter and Wendy in 1911. The story is about growing up while holding on to the imagination, curiosity and generosity of spirit that children are born with, but often lose as they mature.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR AND CO-AUTHOR
Lillian White will direct and co-write the play along 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, a prison drama program), and Terra Incognita (Oberlin College). As an assistant director, Lillian worked on Darkside and Written on the Heart (Burning Coal) and Julius Caesar (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Lillian recently completed an SDCF Observership with director-choreographer Steven Hoggett in New York. She has trained at Double Edge Theatre in New England and the Dell 'Arte International School of Physical Theatre.
The script is partially being 'devised' in the rehearsal room. A devised play is one that starts with some basic source material (a book, a film, a series of researched documents, etc) and, through rehearsals in which everyone participates, the story is discovered, along with the way to tell it.
ABOUT THE CAST AND PRODUCTION TEAM
Alec Silver will play Peter. Alec is from Chicago, IL. This is his first production with Burning Coal and his first trip south of the Mason Dixon Line! Julie Oliver of Raleigh will play Mrs. Darling and Captain Hook and her husband, Mr. Darling, will be played by Chapel Hill's Mark Filiaci. Tinkerbell will be played by Raleigh dancer Holly Holmes. The cast also includes Raleighians Juan Isler, Ben Apple, Shawn Morgenlander, Jamal Farrar and Ford Nelson of Raleigh, Cody Hill of Greensboro, and Kaley Morrison of Durham. The multi-racial cast and production team includes artists who identify as Caucasian, Latino, African-American, Asian-American, Jewish-American and Native American.
The production team will also include movement director Robin Harris of Raleigh, Christy Rose (sound) of Denver, Mextly Almeda (lighting) of San Diego, Raleigh's Elizabeth Newton (props) and Katy Werlin (Costumes) and production dramaturg Marshall Botvinik of Durham. Chris Acevedo of Raleigh is the Production Stage Manager.
Burning Coal Theatre Company is one of Raleigh's intimate, professional theatres. Burning Coal is 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, using the best local, national and International Artists available. 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.
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