The classic tale of a magical boy who never grows up and a human girl who does will be retold in an innovative form in the opening production of the Yale Repertory Theatre's 1998-99 season, which begins Thursday, Sept. 17.
"Peter and Wendy," Liza Lorwin's award-winning stage adaptation of J.M. Barrie's classic novel, will be brought to life on stage by an army of bunraku puppets, seven puppeteers and actor/narrator Karen Kandel in the Rep's first offering of its 32nd season. The show, created by Mabou Mines, a New York-based collaborative theater company, will be directed by Lee Breuer, the company's founding director. It features pop-up scenery designed by Julie Archer and a Celtic score composed by renowned Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham.
One critic has described Mabou Mines' production of "Peter and Wendy" as the "classic story of Peter Pan ... turned outside-in," while another critic has commented that the show "blends the elements of theater into a work of artistry that has the power to hold an audience of small children while their adult companions weep over matters that the younger viewers will not understand for years to come."
"This is an ideal piece to open our season," says Stan Wojewodski Jr., artistic director of the Rep and dean of the School of Drama. "It's a rare treat to be able to offer the Yale Rep audience the opportunity to see the work of Mabou Mines. 'Peter and Wendy' is the happy confluence of a timeless story and a modern theater practice -- which is itself a synthesis of innovation and tradition."
Writer Lorwin and Obie Award-winning designer Archer began developing "Peter and Wendy" in 1989. Over the next eight years the two collaborators, along with director Breuer, continued work on the project, often revisiting Barrie's novel, which was written seven years after his hit play "Peter Pan." Inspired by Barrie's Scottish heritage and the rhythms of his language, the collaborators turned to Cunningham to compose "Peter and Wendy's" score. Actor Kandel then joined the project as narrator and the production's only voice for its many characters.
The production premiered at the 1996 Spoleto Festival USA and has since been performed at The Henson Foundation International Festival of Puppet Theater at The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, the New Victory Theater and Geffen Playhouse. In 1997 "Peter and Wendy" garnered two Obie Awards -- one presented to its creators for best production and one for outstanding performance given to Kandel.
"When Julie and I began this project, my son was five years old, so the idea of a beloved flying away was intensely resonant to me," says Lorwin. "We wanted to make a production that would emphasize the primarily wistful atmosphere of the novel -- almost a meditation on the themes of the play -- and Barrie's extraordinary language. We wanted to convey the process of imagining -- for instance watching a child play, or even an adult read -- rather than convey those imaginings as real. We wanted to do it with Barrie's over-the-top approach in tact."
Mabou Mines is considered a leader in the avant garde theater movement. The company has created over two dozen original works and adaptations of classics for the theater and has received over 50 awards and citations for excellence, including Obie Awards for General Excellence and Sustained Achievement.
Breuer, who was cochair of the Yale School of Drama's directing program 1986-90 and won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1997, has written and/or directed a dozen works for Mabou Mines, including two that have won Obie Awards: "The Shaggy Dog Animation" and "A Prelude to Death in Venice." His work outside of the company includes such music-theater collaborations with composer Bob Telson as "Sister Suzie Cinema," "The Gospel at Colonus" (which won an Obie Award for best musical and was nominated for a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize), and "The Warrior Ant," which was coproduced by the Yale Repertory Theatre.
Kandel has worked on- and off-Broadway and regionally, and she is the recipient of a Theater World Award, a Los Angeles DramaLogue Award, a Drama League Award and two Obie Awards for Performance (including the one for her work in "Peter and Wendy").
Also appearing in "Peter and Wendy" are lead puppeteers Jane Catherine Shaw and Preston Foerder; puppeteers Sam Hack, Sarah Provost, Jessica Smith, Jenny Subjack and Lute Ramblin'; and musicians Kathleen Keane, Jay Ansill, Alan Kelly, Susan Craig Winsberg and Jay Peck.
"Peter and Wendy" runs through Saturday, Oct. 3, at the University Theatre, 222 York St.
Other shows in the season
The other shows in the 1998-99 season are:
Oct. 22-Nov. 14 -- Charles Laughton's translation of "Galileo" by Bertolt Brecht, directed by School of Drama alumnus Evan Yionoulis. The drama examines the life of Galileo as he struggles through poverty, plague and persecution to prove that the Earth is not the center of the universe until, under threat of torture, he recants what he knows to be true, later continuing his work in secret.
Nov. 27-Dec. 19 -- "Crumbs from the Table of Joy" by School of Drama alumnus Lynn Nottage, directed by Seret Scott. The play dramatizes an awakening for an innocent 17-year-old African-American girl whose life is transformed by her mother's death and her family's subsequent exodus to Brooklyn from the rural South in the 1950s.
Jan. 28-Feb. 20 -- "Measure for Measure" by William Shakespeare, directed by School of Drama alumnus Mark Rucker. This production is a special project of the School of Drama's graduating acting class and the Yale Rep. Shakespeare's play is "about the collision between the abuse of power and righteous judgment untempered by mercy," says Dean Wojewodski.
March 18-April 10 -- "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams, directed by Joseph Chaikin. Williams' American classic dramatizes the quest of a mother, long ago abandoned by her husband and fearing a similar flight by her restless son, to find a financially secure mate for her isolated and dreamy 24-year-old daughter.
April 29-May 22 -- "Hay Fever" by Noel Coward, directed by Wojewodski. In this comedy, unwitting house guests become the intellectual playthings of the self-absorbed Bliss family.
With the exception of "Peter and Wendy" and "Crumbs from the Table of Joy," all shows take place at the Yale Repertory Theatre, corner of Chapel and York streets. Individual tickets to Yale Rep productions and the special project of the School of Drama range from $26 to $33. Discounted tickets are available for students, senior citizens and groups of 10 or more. Several subscription packages are available. For more information, call the Yale Repertory Theatre box office at 432-1234; box office hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays, and 10 a.m. until show time on performance days.