Sedona students to perform ‘Peter and Wendy’ on Saturday at WSS

Clap your hands if you believe in fairies, or if you want to come to give a round of applause to Sedona’s young thespians with the 35th annual Missoula Children’s Theatre performance this weekend.

The show will bring together first-graders to high school seniors for a performance of “Peter and Wendy,” with two performances at West Sedona School, at 1:30 and 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1.

“When Captain Hook sends his right-hand man, Smee, on a quest to capture Peter Pan, it’s seemingly business as usual,” the play synopsis reads. “Little does Hook realize what fantastic adventures await him and his pirate posse in their search for the elusive Peter Pan. Mistaken identities, ever-morphing clouds, a classy crocodile, some very lost boys and a fickle shadow all add to the mayhem.”

Meanwhile, the Darling family undertake their globe-trotting quest to find their missing children, and just maybe by the time the curtains close everyone will find a place where they feel a sense of belonging.

“Sacha [Loup Mottier Waddell] plays Mr. Darling, and he developed a whole backstory for the character,” touring actor and director Ivy Brooks said. “He’s coming with all these crazy choices, and it’s been so funny watching him come up with that. Calliope [Hill] is Mrs. Darling and Niki [Jandaghi] is Nana and, based off the choices Sacha’s been making, they’ve been getting to add stuff as well. They’ve created this really cute, fun family that gets to travel around and be super silly together.”

The students auditioned on Monday and rehearsed over the course of the week. The costumes and props slowly got added in as the children learned the production. It amounts to theater boot camp for the budding thespians.

“We use the by-rote method, so it’s a lot of repetition, and MCT teaches in what we call building blocks,” touring actor and director Hannah Moss said. “They’ll learn all the lyrics first. Then they learn the melody. Then the moves that go along with it. Then they start to learn the blocking, and then we can add in the fun stuff. We don’t give them the set until Thursday. We don’t give them the piano until Wednesday. The costumes until Friday. We’re going step by step, and we’re earning every single piece of the cake.”

By Saturday, the kids get to have their cake and eat it, too, by putting on the performance for their local community.

“There are kids of all ages participating in the play, and there’s all different songs that we perform,” said Max Hill, 12, who is playing Peter. “We’re breaking the fourth wall, talking to the audience, with audience interaction. And Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are also in this, which I think the audience can get a great laugh out of, because they’re not supposed to be in this story. So they’re really confused, and it’s just really entertaining.”

Playing Wendy is returning actor Elayne Perrine, 16, who played the eponymous Snow Queen in last summer’s Missoula Children’s Theatre production.

“Before, when I was the Snow Queen, I was more just wanting to be in control of everything, and just mean,” Perrine said. “But now I’m the motherly figure to all these little Lost Boys. It’s very different to have to step into a motherly character versus a mean, evil jerk.”

Playing Wendy’s brother, Michael, is Levi Kraut, 11, a sixth-grader at Sedona Charter School and a four-year Missoula Children’s Theatre veteran who has appeared in “Beauty Lou and the Country Beast,” “Treasure Island” and “The Snow Queen.”

“There’s one scene where Tinker Bell is dying, and it’s really over the top, and then she doesn’t actually die,” Kraut said. “And then Peter’s like, ‘So what do you think of her performance? Clap if you liked it. Clap if you thought it was over the top. Clap if you believe in Tinker Bell.’ It’s a super playful show that has audience interactions — a 4-year-old with a teddy bear and a lot of great songs. They’re catchy and they’re fun. Children of all ages can show up, as well as parents of all ages.”

Kraut noted, however, that attendees should be on the watch for the crocodile.

“He’s coming,” he said.

“[Attendees] will find that they smile the whole time. It’ll bring a lot of joy,” said Jennette Bill, the youth chair for the Rotary Club of Sedona Village, which is sponsoring the event. “It’s just so fun to see kids having so much fun and singing and dancing and enjoying themselves. … We’re hoping to hook those kids in for a great theater experience.”

Advance tickets are available for $15, and children under 12 are free with tickets through sedonavillagerotary.org. Admission can be two cans of food at the door with those contributions going to the Sedona Community Food Bank.