Dr. Michael Flachmann, Jo Ann Lawson, Daniel Aseltine

Utah Shakespeare Festival’s

25th Camp Shakespeare

Summer, 2013

Starcatchers is the precursor to the tremendously successful 1904 play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up, written by the Scottish journalist, playwright, and novelist James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937). The play was adapted into a novel, Peter and Wendy, by same author in 1911.

1904 1911

2004 2012

The 2012 stage adaptation Peter and the Starcatcher (singular) was written by

Tony Award nominee Rick Elice. It was based upon the 2004 bestselling novel

Peter and the Starcatchers (plural) by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. The

Broadway production of Elice’s play was nominated for nine Tony Awards,

and won five. The novel and stage versions give us the back-story of Peter

Pan, Wendy, and Captain Hook.

Ridley Pearson is the best-selling author of

twenty-two novels, including the young adult

novel The Kingdom Keepers and the adult

thrillers Cut and Run, The Body of David Hayes,

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, The Middle of

Nowhere, The Pied Piper, Beyond Recognition, No

Witnesses, The First Victim, Undercurrents, and

Parallel Lies. He was the first American to be

awarded the Raymond Chandler/Fulbright

Fellowship in Detective Fiction at Oxford

University.

Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author

of more than two dozen books, including Dave

Barry’s Money Secrets, Dave Barry’s Complete

Guide to Guys, Dave Barry Slept Here, Big Trouble,

and Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway.

12-member cast of the Broadway production at the Brooks Atkinson Theater; opened April 15, 2012

from the Broadway production at the Brooks Atkinson Theater; opened April 15, 2012

1924 First film adaptation (silent) is directed by Howard Brenon.

Betty Bronson stars as Peter Pan.

1953 Walt Disney releases an animated musical film,

with Bobby Driscoll as the voice of Peter Pan.

ANNOTATED TIMELINE OF THE ‘PETER PAN’ LEGEND

1904 J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up premieres

at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London.

1911 The same author adapts his play into a novella, Peter and Wendy.

1955 NBC broadcasts the Broadway musical, directed by

Jerome Robbins, with Mary Martin as Peter Pan.

1975

Neverland, a science fiction

version written by Jim Steinman,

is presented at the JFK Center in

Washington, DC.

1976

Mia Farrow stars as Peter Pan

in another NBC production.

Danny Kaye portrays Captain

Hook.

1990-1991

Fox presents an animated

TV series, with Peter Pan’s

voice by Jason Marsden

and Captain Hook’s by

Tim Curry.

1991

Steven Spielberg directs Hook,

with an adult Peter Pan (Robin

Williams) and Dustin Hoffman

as Captain Hook.

1998

Former gymnast Cathy Rigby

brings Peter Pan back to

Broadway in a production

filled with flying stunts.

2003

Director P. J. Hogan releases Peter

Pan movie; Jeremy Sumpter in

the title role and Jason Isaacs as

Captain Hook.

2004

Johnny Depp stars in the

biographical movie

Finding Neverland about the

original playwright, J. M. Barrie.

2006

Geraldine McCaughrean’s

‘authorized’ sequel to the

original, Peter Pan in Scarlet, is

commissioned by Great

Ormond Street Children’s

Hospital in London. In 1929,

this hospital was granted the

literary rights by Barrie, who

was a trustee of the institution.

Under British law, the hospital’s

copyright expired in 2007.

SIR JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE, CREATOR OF THE PETER PAN LEGEND

James Matthew Barrie

in 1890

James Matthew Barrie

in 1910

Born 1860 in Scotland. Graduated Edinburgh University, 1882. Married

actress Mary Ansell in 1894; he divorced her for infidelity in 1909. The first

stage performance of Peter Pan occurred at Christmas-time in 1904. Barrie

was awarded the Order of Merit in 1922 by King George V. Barrie had no

children, but was trustee and guardian of five Llewelyn Davies boys – they

were his source of inspiration for Peter Pan. Their father died in 1907; their

mother in 1910; and Barrie financially supported the five brothers until they

were grown.

SIR JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE, CREATOR OF THE PETER PAN LEGEND

Barrie granted the literary rights to Peter Pan to Britain’s foremost children’s hospital, Great Ormond

Street Hospital, in 1929. This copyright officially expired in 2007, seventy years after the author’s death

from pneumonia in 1937 at age 77. His birthplace is now a museum, under the control of the National

Trust for Scotland.

Peter Pan statue outside Great Ormond Street hospital, London

statue of Peter Pan

in Kensington Gardens,

London

DAVE BARRY, CO-AUTHOR: PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS

Born 1947 (66 years old) in Armonk, New York [north of NYC]. Author of a nationally-syndicated humor column for the Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. Awarded the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his “consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns.” He was elected “class clown” at Pleasantville High School, where he graduated in 1965. He earned a B.A. in English from Haverford College [a Quaker-affiliated institution located near Philadelphia] in 1969. His status as a religious conscientious objector precluded him from military service. Barry began his journalism career in 1971 as a general assignment reporter for the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pennsylvania. In a 2001 Miami Herald column, Barry made light of the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. In “retaliation”, the metropolis named a sewage pumping station after him. The following January, he graciously appeared at the dedication of his infrastructure monument, the Dave Barry Sewage Lift Station No. 16.

From the FAQ Section of Dave Barry’s website, www.davebarry.com How did you get such an awesome job as a humor columnist? I'm still not really sure. It happened gradually, while I was trying to have a real career. What made you decide to write humor? The fact that you don't need to be accurate. Many would say you are one of the most inspiring editorialists of our days. What do you think about that? It makes me very nervous.

RIDLEY PEARSON, CO-AUTHOR OF PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS

Born 1953 (60 years old) in Glen Cove, New York [on the north shore of Long Island], and raised in

Riverside, Connecticut. Author of suspense and thriller novels for adults, as well as adventure stories for children. In 1991, he became the first American to win Oxford University’s Raymond Chandler-Fulbright Fellowship in detective fiction. He lives with his wife and two daughters in St. Louis. Pearson and long-time friend Dave Barry have written four other prequels to the Peter Pan legend.

His works for adults include The Risk Agent (2012); In Harm's Way (2010); Killer Summer (2009); Killer View (2008); Killer Weekend (2007); Cut and Run (2005); The Body of David Hayes (2004); The Art of Deception (2002); The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer (2001); Parallel Lies (2001); Middle of Nowhere (2000); The First Victim (1999); The Pied Piper (1998); Beyond Recognition (1997); Chain of Evidence (1995); No Witnesses (1994); The Angel Maker (1993); Hard Fall (1992); (Probable Cause (1990);Undercurrents (1988); The Seizing of Yankee Green Mall (1987); Blood of the Albatross (1986); and Never Look Back (1985).

From the FAQ section of his web site, www.ridleypearson.com --

What inspires you to write? Where do you get your ideas? I love telling stories. I’ve been a storyteller much of my life, and I think the novels allow me to express that. My ideas come from experience, newspapers, listening to others, observation. It’s all around us. Everything has a story if you take the time to listen and look for it.

RIDLEY PEARSON, CO-AUTHOR OF PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS

Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson have written four sequels to their 2004 novel, Peter and the Starcatchers:

2006, Peter and the Shadow Thieves

2007, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

2009, Peter and the Sword of Mercy

2011, The Bridge to Never Land.

Together, these five works form the prequel to Sir J. M. Barrie’s original novel, Peter Pan (1904).

A FEW CONCLUDING COMMENTS

Minimalist, low-tech, non-realistic;

actors create their own spare scenery and use few props.

Story theater and Poor theater

The Broadway directors’ vision for the play draws from the tradition of Poor

theatre.

Poor Theatre was created by Polish director Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999). As films

began to overtake live theatre as the dominant form of popular entertainment,

Grotowski urged that theatre should return to its roots. Stage plays could never

begin to compete the special effects and editing techniques of Hollywood, he

argued. So theatre should rely on the imaginations of its constituents: cast, director,

dramaturg, designer, and its audience. Peter and the Starcatcher uses clever staging,

ropes, planks, a few simple props, and the actors themselves to invite the audience

to use their own imaginations to create larger-than-life spectacles like mutiny

aboard a pirate ship, the far-off kingdom of Rundoon, and flying children.