Rhino Studio 237 To Present Innovative Staging of PETER AND THE STARCATCHER

Fantasy, humor, and heart align in Rhino Studio 237's upcoming production of Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice with Music by Wayne Baker (based on the Disney-Hyperion novel by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry). Directed by Patrick Francis Mahn, Choreographed by Mollie Gash, and Musically Directed by Stephanie Mangioglu, the play will run March 31 - April 9 at Rhino Theatre's state-of-the-art, 90-seat black box theater, Studio 237. The production features a cast of 17 in storyteller-style theatre, in which the ensemble portrays more than one-hundred characters, to present a magically whimsical, infectiously funny, huge-hearted prequel to the classic story of Peter Pan.

About Peter and the Starcatcher: Tony-winning Peter and the Starcatcher immerses audiences in the story of how an insignificant orphan rose to become the iconic boy who never grew up in a masterpiece of theatrical storytelling.

Rhino Theatre has set a new spin on the show, where the cast starts out as students of the fictional Saint Norbert's Academy for Wayward Children (a co-ed boarding school - in homage to the orphanage Peter and his friends are from in the novel on which the show is based). Using their own imagination, and the grounds of the Academy to spin this fantastical tale of the Neverland we never knew - with you (the audience) as an inclusive part of the action and creation of the story - the show works to increasingly blur the lines between reality and fantasy - between the Academy grounds and the island of Neverland - and transports audiences deeper into a world of pure adventure and imagination, where anything is possible.

"The beauty of this production", explains director Patrick Francis Mahn, "is that by the time the show is over, audiences will feel as though they have somehow, magically, suspended their concept of reality and traveled to the world of Neverland along with this group of students who start out merely playing and pretending and make-believing." He goes on to explain, "what is remarkable is that the way we are telling this story, it gives audiences this first-person experience of traveling into the imagination and creative mind of this group and children as they create this "pretend" world that suddenly overtakes the audience's collective senses of reality until reality has been replaced by this entire fantasy world. " Mahn compares the audience experience to that of one of the iconic moments in the movie "Hook" when an adult Peter Pan returns to Neverland and is at a feast table and, at first, cannot see all the mountains of glorious food before him, until he is able to suspend his disbelief and imagine again, and suddenly this entire banquet of food opens up to him. "The way this show transforms is really just mind-blowing to watch and experience," Mahn concludes.

PETER AND THE STARCATCHER

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

March 31 - April 9, 2017

Fridays at 8:00pm

Saturdays at 8:00pm

Sundays at 3:00pm

For a complete listing of show times, please visit rhinotheatre.com or call 973-248-9491.

TICKETS:

General Admission (Assigned Seating) is $25, including tax.

For more than 16 years and through more than 150 shows, the Rhino Theatre has been reaching out to the community in Pompton Lakes, NJ. Our skilled theatre troupe and state of the Art Theatre has made us one of the North Jersey's finest theatre facilities. Choose one of our fabulous shows for your next night out.

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