Amid pixie dust, Astoria theater’s ‘Peter Pan’ show sprinkles serious issues

Published 12:08 pm Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Growing up may be humankind’s greatest challenge.

Then there’s Peter Pan, who lives in Neverland and doesn’t.

Sarah Ruhl addresses those issues in her play “For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday.”

It will be staged at the Ten Fifteen Theater in Astoria, opening Aug. 1 and running three weekends.

Director Deanna Duplechain said the style of the play offers elements akin to Japanese Noh drama, where characters interact with a ghost through three movements which replace traditional chronological acts. 

The Ten Fifteen production, which is just short of 90 minutes, will be presented in three movements without an intermission. It begins with a family of five adult siblings clustered around a hospital bed where their father (Arnie Hummasti) is dying.

The play follows the reactions of the children, who are portrayed by Paige Jones, Nancy Watkins, Judy Goff-Menegat, Marc Weaver and Nancy Montgomery; Gigi Chadwick is the understudy. 

It includes scenes where they take on characters from J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan.” There’s even a sword fight with Capt. Hook, efforts to make Peter Pan fly, and an appearance by the family’s dog. Duplechain’s stumpy tailed Australian cattle dog Abby is the seventh cast member.

Themes

The author, Ruhl, teaches at the Yale School of Drama. She wrote the play in 2017 as a lead role for her mother, basing it loosely on her mother’s early life when she had played Peter Pan at a Midwest theater.

Duplechain, whose father died a couple of years ago, was touched by the themes. 

“When your parents die, it is time to reflect on why we are here — the questions that we ponder,” she said. “Your parents die and you say, ‘I am really an adult now’ and ‘I am next in line.’”

The director described the work as “genre fluid,” because it balances drama with comedy, beginning in the father’s hospital room, then his wake. “There is that high tragedy and there are silly sword fights and Neverland where deaths don’t mean anything. It runs the gamut.”

The play delves into how mature adults examine long-held values, including Catholicism. It is set during the Clinton Administration, so liberal-conservative conflicts surface, though perhaps not as divisive as today.

“It is a classic family with a pecking order and they make fun of each other,” Duplechain said. “But it does not fit neatly into a box. It is so dense, and to make it work and really ‘fly’ we have to be spot on. There’s not a lot of room for ‘methody’ acting. It is pretty tightly choreographed.”

‘Patience’

Weaver, who portrays Michael, the second youngest of the grown children, has savored the detailed scene work with Duplechain. “You have to be part of an ensemble, and it takes patience to listen,” he said. 

The script’s themes resonate. “I realize it brings up issues with your own family, as we are all ‘of a certain age.’ You get to feel and say things that you wouldn’t say to your own family.”

To discuss the issues raised, there will be an audience talk-back after the Aug. 3 matinee.

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“For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday”

A play by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Deanna Duplechain

The Ten Fifteen Theater, 1015 Commercial St., in Astoria

7:30 p.m. Aug. 1-2, 8-9, 14-16; 3:30 p.m. Aug. 3 and 10.

Tickets $25, online at www.thetenfifteentheater.com; $5 Arts for All tickets available by contacting the box office.