Adventure awaits

Coal City Theatre Department to present Peter Pan

The curtain goes up on Coal City High School's production of Peter Pan at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10 with additional performances at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 12 and Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. Reserved seat tickets can be purchased in advance at ccpeterpan.brownpapertickets.com. Remaining seats will be sold at the door, cash or check only, beginning one hour prior to each performance.

By: 
Ann Gill
Editor

Free spirited and a bit mischievous, Peter Pan is the boy who never grows up. Unlike the character he plays, Coal City High School junior Gabe Ludes is looking forward to a grown-up life.
“The plan for growing up is to go to (University of) Michigan, get a law degree and become a successful lawyer and buy my parents stuff they need,” said Ludes.
But for the time being he’s happy being a high schooler who plays football and wrestles, and has the opportunity to step onto the stage and into the spotlight even when it requires him to wear green tights.
A self proclaimed Disney fan, Ludes loved the animated tale of Peter Pan as a kid. So when he walked into the audition room in August his sights were set on landing the title role.
When the cast list was posted, “I figured I would be wearing some green tights, so I started hitting leg day a bit harder,” he said with a chuckle.
This weekend, Ludes will join a cast and crew of nearly 50 students in presenting the classic tale based on the works of J.M. Barrie. The play, directed by Jack Micetich with assistance from student director Riley Nevin, will open Thursday, Oct. 10, with additional performances on Saturday and Sunday.
Audiences will be transported from the nursery where Wendy Darling and her brothers John and Michael play being grownups to Neverland, the home to Lost Boys, fairies, mermaids, Native Americans and pirates who are led by Captain Hook.
Senior Cody Rogers is the show’s Captain Hook, who is looking to get revenge against Peter, who cut off his hand and threw it to a crocodile with a tick that now follows him around.
While some may find the character of Hook to be loathsome, Rogers doesn’t believe him to be wicked, but rather sad.
“I think he is very upset what happened to him and so the entire time he could care less about the lost boys, care less about his pirates, all he wants to do get is revenge on Peter Pan for taking his hand,” Rogers said.
So to prepare for his role he took inspiration from some of his all time favorite characters, namely Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean series.
Rogers likes being a character actor above anything else, especially those with strong personalities, so this role fits him well.
“It pushes me not to just portray an emotion, but to portray a personality,” Rogers said.
The characters he’s played in the past like Man in the Yellow Suit from Tuck Everlasting and Thenardier in Les Miserables have similarities but at the same time the purposes are very different.
“When you play these character roles, these comedic relief roles to find differences in them so you aren’t Thenardier three years in a row or Man in the Yellow Suit,” Rogers said.
Each of the characters taking the stage have found some challenges in the show. For some it’s taking the stage for the first time, assuming the persona of a mother or father, or reverting back to a young child.
For Ludes, this is the first time he’s been in lead role with a majority of the lines, so that’s been a challenge for him.
McKenna Patten, who plays Wendy Darling, said she’s also had challenges in memorizing her lines, so she spends her free time running lines at home with the help of her parents.
Patten and Ludes share quite a bit of stage time together and both say they are enjoying every minute of the experience of working together and with the rest of the cast that includes principal players Griffin Johnson and Eli Fritz as John and Michael Darling, Kaylee Grove as Hook’s sidekick Smee and Kit Clayburn and Alexis Arreola as Mr. and Mrs. Darling.
Audience members will delight in the costumes and lighting, special effects, sword fights, and cast member flights.
The curtain goes up at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10 with additional performances at 7 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 12 and Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. Reserved seat tickets can be purchased in advance at ccpeterpan.brownpapertickets.com. Remaining seats will be sold at the door, cash or check only, beginning one hour prior to each performance.