Student thespians hope to take flight in ‘Peter Pan’
MIDDLEBURY — The Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center’s Addison Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is seeking to raise $11,000 to help its planned performance of “Peter Pan” soar to lofty heights.
The $11,000 is needed to hire Flying by Foy — a professional aerial choreography company — to literally get A.R.T.’s Peter Pan production off the ground. A representative of the company would come in to rig the Middlebury Union High School auditorium stage with the necessary cables and other technology to allow the student stars of the play to take flight in Pan-like fashion.
Candace Burkle, an English instructor, producer and costumer for A.R.T., said plans call for the play to be staged at MUHS from April 6 to 9. A.R.T. needs professional help to stage what will be its most technically advanced play to date.
Burkle said the A.R.T. production will stay true to the J.M. Barrie script, while collaborating with the MUHS Jazz Band on the musical score.
A.R.T. must let Foy know by January if it can raise the $11,000 fee, Burkle noted. With that in mind, A.R.T. boosters have launched an aggressive fund drive. Events already staged, or in the works, include dinners, alumni concerts, a shopping bus trip to Albany, the sale of commemorative plaques on theater seats, poetry slams, theater program advertising, and the sale of bumper stickers.
As of late last week, A.R.T. had sent out a mailing and had raised around $2,500 toward the Foy fee. A.R.T. hopes to increase that amount to at least $6,000 by next month, according to Burkle.
Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible contribution to the cause should contact Burkle at 382-1036, or e-mail [email protected]. All checks should be made out to the A.R.T. Legacy Fund.
More information can be found at www.addisonrepertory.com.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].