Community Players in Bloomington begins its 97th season this weekend with "Peter and the Starcatchers."
Brian Artman directs the two-weekend run of this play with music. He said it's a very fast paced piece.
"It's very clever. It has music here and there. It has grown men dressed as mermaids. What more could you ask for?" said Artman.
"Peter and the Starcatchers" is based on the series of children's novels by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Artman said it's a prequel to the original "Peter Pan."
"You see how the boy who becomes Peter Pan arrives on Neverland, how the pirate becomes Captain Hook, how Tinkerbell comes to be," said Artman.
He said it's a more modern portrayal of Pan. There won't be green tights.
There is a cast of 12 (11 men and one woman) and Artman said they hope to hook the audience's attention and keep them guessing what will happen next.
"Where we have actors becoming scenery and we have actors jumping from character to character within the same scene. This show is so much about imagination," said Artman.
The show has only been off of Broadway for five or six years. Artman said it's relatively new to most audiences. He said Community Players is one of the few companies in central Illinois that has done it, though it is growing in popularity. He said it is unlikely to become dated.
"I saw it on Broadway. It is such a fast show and done so cleverly and done so clean, I came away feeling I had never seen anything done like that on stage before with such a small group of actors and really not a lot of toots and whistles in terms of technology. As long as the production is fast and clean, I don't see the production getting old," said Artman.
Artman directs "Peter and the Starcathers" as Community Players on Robinhood Lane in Bloomington begins its 97th season. The show runs Friday night and the rest of this weekend, Sept. 8-9, and next weekend Sept. 14-16. Friday and Saturday shows at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m.
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