Point of View

Peter & the Starcatcher is not only the lighthearted and comical origin of Peter Pan, it is also a story of childhood innocence, lost and regained, of found family, and of one’s own agency and identity.

On one side of the story, Peter, Prentiss and Ted are taken from their lonely lives, and are thrust into a world of adventure and opportunity. Through this, they are able to regain that part of themselves that they were deprived of for so long, and they are able to be children again. On the other side, Molly wants nothing more than to grow up and follow in her father’s footsteps as a Starcatcher. Her journey shows her the true meaning of growing up, and leads her to appreciate the connections she has made along the way. These children find a home with one another, and create a family that many of them had never known.

This play is deeply rooted in its physical space. From the British mainland, to the decks of The Neverland and The Wasp, and ending on Mollusk Island, the lighting is structured around these pivotal locations. The childlike point of view that the play takes on allows the characters’ emotions to affect the world around them. Through lighting, I want the world to reflect the warmth (or lack thereof) in Peter and the children’s lives, and also include an element of the magic that is present throughout the play.

As the story is one told through emotion, I want the lighting to be told through color. The main emotional motifs of this show are contrasted between the acts. In the first act, Peter has just left his life behind, and is thrown into this strange world of adults and magic. All he has known is a cold, mistreated existence, reflected in the cool tones and harsher angles of light. That is, until he meets Molly. She introduces a spark of warmth into his life that he carries with him for the rest of the show. These moments of compassion that the two share act as a streak of warmth over the typically cold environment. As we move into the second act, the color palette has fully shifted to warm tones, but maintains more subtle differences that muddle the emotional landscape of the characters. Peter’s world has become much warmer as a whole, but also has a heightened complexity that comes with his maturity.