Student actors take flight in Central Valley’s ‘Peter Pan’

Playing the role of “Peter Pan” is more than just memorizing lines and convincing the children to run away to Neverland.

As Central Valley High School freshman Jack Sorensen learned this week, it’s also about flying into walls.

Sorensen, 15, is playing the lead role of mischievous Pan in the school’s production of the classic tale this month.

With help from an internationally recognized aerial rigging company, student actors will be flying for their roles as Peter, Wendy, John and Michael and others in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the book written by J.M. Barrie.

“It’s frightening and cool,” Sorensen said about flying over the stage for the first time. “It’s kind of surreal.”

The dreamlike flying scenes are just the beginning for the staff, students and volunteers working on the production, which begins Thursday.

It’s the culmination of many months of work, and may be the most popular show yet in the high school building that opened in 2002, paid for with $78 million in voter-approved bonds to build CV and University High School.

Both schools are equipped with state-of-the-art performing arts theaters, which include counterweight systems made for moving props, but easily accommodate the flying sequences.

“We never a really had a $4.5 million theater to do a show like this before,” said Michael Muzatko, CV drama instructor and artistic director. “We’ve sold three times the pre-sale tickets than any other show.”

They left no detail out. Sword-fighting, pirates, Indians, a crocodile and a giant dog named Nana are all present.

Professional musicians, who have also worked with the Spokane Symphony, have been rehearsing with the students, and for the first time a student actor, Natalie Springel, is choreographing the show.

And then there is the flying. The school paid $8,000 for the services of Flying by Foy, a Las Vegas-based company that brought stage-flying to fame with the original 1954 Broadway production of “Peter Pan” starring Mary Martin. The company, which also has an office in London, was founded by Peter Foy, who died Feb. 17 at the age of 79.

Jason Wilson, a technician with the stage-flying group, arrived at CV on Sunday to help set up rigging for the play and spend three days training Peter Pan and his friends. He does more than 100 high school and community theater productions of “Peter Pan” every year.

On Monday, Wilson gave the students their first chance at flight.

Harnesses are worn underneath costumes, attached to wires. The counterweight ropes are operated by volunteers, including the real-life father of the student playing Wendy, Melissa McCarty.

“I heard that Wendys tend to have a lot of accidents,” Paul McCarty joked. “So I figured if anybody is going to hurt her, it might as well be me.”

It wasn’t hard for the students to act out looks of fright, and surprise at the sensation of soaring through the air.

But Sorensen had almost mastered the signature “Peter Pan” flying pose, with one hand on his hip, one knee bent and one arm out stretched.

“He seems to be a natural,” Foy’s Wilson said.

Wilson also admired the fact that Peter Pan will be played by a male. More often than not the role is filled by a woman.

Sorensen has been wanting to play Pan for several years, said Sorensen’s mother, Evan, who is also the vice principal at CV. Her son was one of more than 100 students who tried out for 40 acting spots in the play.

“Pretty much he’s had this in his head since fifth grade,” Evan Sorensen said. “I was explaining how with the new building we would have the capacity to do this, and from then on he wanted it.”

Jack Sorensen researched the part, even going so far as to buy a video of Mary Martin in the original production through the Internet. Sorensen also helped choreograph the sword-fighting scenes with Captain Hook, played by student Dane Ficklin. Both fence in real life and had the skills necessary for the roles.

“I really tried to get into character,” Sorensen said. “I always thought how cool it would be to play Peter Pan. I mean, it’s ‘Peter Pan.’ It’s magical.”