AMUSING STAGECRAFT INSPIRES THRILLS

Mt. Hood’s spring theatre arts production, “Peter and the Starcatcher,” is setting up to be the most comedic and imaginative play that Mt. Hood has produced this year.

Last term, students took part in a very serious production, “Spring Awakening,” which dealt deeply with mental health. So, a comedy is a welcome follow-up.

Overall, “Peter” serves as a prequel to “Peter Pan.” The play is an adaptation by Rick Elice of a book, “Peter and the Starcatchers” by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. It tells the tale of how Peter Pan came to be.

There are 17 students acting on stage, and over 20 who are working backstage on costumes, sets and props.

The lead roles are Boy (Peter) played by Josh Smith; Molly, played by Liana Tarasenko: and Black Stache, played by Chris Wolf.

While not every student is active in each production over the school year, the theatre department does have a core group of students who are. The latter can be seen participating in different levels of roles throughout the year.

“If people have seen all three plays this year, they’ll recognize a lot of actors in very different roles because we do have consistency,” said MHCC Theatre Director Mace Archer.

Students truly get to push their imaginations and those of the audience with this play.

“It’s the kind of play where you create water by waving fabric on stage, so creating illusions with the cast and figuring out how we’re going to do these things creatively, in our imaginations, rather than making them realistic has been the fun of this,” said Archer.

At one point in “Peter” the ensemble creates the illusion that someone is floating. Archer explained, “It’s not like going to a Vegas magic show where you’re trying to figure out how they did it. You can see how it’s being done, and it still is funny and magical.”

Despite the laughs and fun in creating illusions, there have been some challenges that allow students to continue growing in new ways. Archer said that’s because of many moving parts to this show, including a few musical numbers, some choreography, and narration where actors had to assign lines because it’s not predetermined in the script.

Just like “Spring Awakening,” “Peter” will be staged in the smaller Studio Theatre. Archer is looking forward to sitting among the more-intimate theatre and watching and listening to the crowd’s reactions as is discovers how the myth of “Peter Pan” came into existence.

“A lot of the things don’t happen in the way that we think they happened from the original ‘Peter Pan’ story. Like, how Captain Hook lost his hand is different in this play than we all think,” said Archer.

Tickets to “Peter and the Starcatcher” are on sale now. If you buy your tickets early, it’s only $5. At the door, tickets are $7 for students/seniors/MHCC faculty/staff, and $10 for adults. Remember that the Studio Theatre is a smaller space, so buying a ticket in advance will secure your spot. Visit mhcc.edu/theatreboxoffice/.

Shows are 7:30 on May 11-12 and May 18-19, and at 2 p.m. on May 13 and 20.