Arena Stage Announces Casting for Peter & Wendy

Arena Stage announces Mabou Mines' Peter & Wendy, the highly anticipated adaptation of J.M. Barrie's story of Peter Pan and Wendy, which magically comes to life this season in the Kreeger Theater, April 27 through June 24, 2007. The visually stunning and aurally breathtaking music theater work - from world-renowned experimental theater company Mabou Mines - re-imagines the classic tale through elegant East Asian puppetry, a gorgeous Celtic musical score and a virtuosic acting performance.

This production from Mabou Mines boasts the show's entire original creative team including Playwright/producer Liza Lorwin, Designer Julie Archer, Director Lee Breuer (all three also collaborated on The Gospel at Colonus) and contains the original score by composer Johnny Cunningham. The production also stars three-time Obie Award-winner Karen Kandel (House Arrest at Arena) as The Narrator, who originated the role, for Arena's April 27 - May 27 performances, and then introduces Marsha Stephanie Blake (The Crucible, All That I Will Ever Be) as The Narrator May 29 - June 24. The press opening night performance is Thursday, May 3 at 8:00 p.m.

"This stylishly unique production awed me with the first notes I heard from its musical score," said Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith. "The story has been masterfully re-envisioned by Mabou Mines and has enchanted audiences of all ages wherever it has been staged. I trust that Arena's area premiere continues to celebrate this magical theater experience."

"J.M. Barrie's widely beloved play Peter Pan opened in 1904, and he wrote the novel Peter Pan and Wendy seven years later. While the story is the same in Peter & Wendy, Mabou Mines' adaptation explores Barrie's themes in this deeper theatrical meditation on growing up. The narrator takes audiences on a lyrical adventure story through a virtuosic performance that inspires a sense of wonder and awe about being a child in the universe surrounding us," state press notes.

"Since Peter & Wendy premiered in 1996 at Spoleto Festival USA, it has been performed three times in New York and by numerous regional theaters across the country. The production has won many awards, including the OBIE Award for Best Production and has enjoyed both critical and popular success. Peter & Wendy is a narrative, with one speaking actress and puppets ranging from the precisely detailed bunraku-style to wooden dolls and scraps of cloth. The puppeteers are visible, though veiled, and a live on-stage band of Celtic musicians provide the score and sound effects. The action remains entirely in the Darling family nursery and utilizes imagination as the key element of design in this magical journey to Neverland."

The Puppeteers are Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith, Matthew Acheson, Emily Decola, Jessica Scott, Jessica Chandlee Smith, with lead puppeteer for Hook Lute Breuer and lead puppeteer for Peter Eric Wright, and puppetry understudy Deana Acheson.

The Peter & Wendy musicians through the run include Alan Kelly on accordion, singer Susan McKeown, Jay Peck and Jerry Busher on percussion, Jay Ansill on celtic harp, Aidan Brennan on guitar, Tola Custy on fiddle and Stephanie Geremia and Ivan Goff on flutes.

The production team is rounded out by Associate Lighting Designer Steve Shelley, Costume Designer Sally Thomas, Sound Designer Edward Cosla, Sound Engineer Yin Chan, Fight Director B.H. Barry, Film by Andrew Moore, Additional Puppetry Direction by Basil Twist and Jane Catherine Shaw, Stage Manager Lloyd Davis, Jr., Assistant Stage Manager Neelam Vaswani, Company Manager Becca Josue, Production Manager Rhys Williams, Technical Director Martin Lechner, Mabou Mines Company Manager Joe Stackell and company member and administrator Sharon Fogarty.

Visit www.arenastage.org for tickets and more information.