“When I was a boy, I wished I could fly.”
That’s the first line of Peter and the Starcatcher, spoken by a boy who would later acquire the name Peter.
I wished I could fly. Didn’t you? I even entertained the idea of jumping off the roof with an umbrella, Mary Poppins style! Don’t worry, I didn’t.
In high school I got to play a pirate in the musical version of Peter Pan and when the actor playing Peter was hoisted up in the air during rehearsal, many of us cried tears of joy as we saw a childhood fantasy come true.
It turns out that emotions don’t care about the difference between reality and imagination. That’s why we tell stories—to get in touch with those feelings. And in the theatre we get to share that experience with others.
-Eric Margerum, director of Peter and the Starcatcher