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First star to the right and straight on 'til Bucksbaum: Despite challenges, student-run and child-inspired Neverland Players thrives two years after founding

BY ALLIE GREENBERG & LAWRENCE SUMULONG

Putting on a play is a lot of work. Organizing and directing a completely student-run production that involves 20 stories written by third and fourth graders ... well, let's just say Sally Webster '07 and Christian Ricci '08 have a lot on their hands this week.

Webster and Ricci are first-time directors of The Neverland Players, an independent production group founded two years ago by Kat Henry '06. The Neverland Players compile their production from stories written by local elementary school students. They will perform this Friday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at the Wall in Bucksbaum.

The Players solicit stories from classes at Davis Elementary. "We get maybe 50, 60 stories," said Webster. They draw from this large pool of ideas to create the 15 to 20 skits that compose the performance. "The Neverland Players serves the purpose of a connection between the community, the Davis Elementary School and the college," said Ricci.

The student-run nature of the production presents some difficulties for the directors and actors. "The challenges are coming up right about now," said Ricci. "The problem is getting tickets, posters, programs ... And so I'd say that's the hardest part."

Another challenge will come next year with the loss of music director Ben Kim '07. Kim's piano accompaniment has been a part of the Neverland Players since its founding. "When the actors start workshopping and rehearsing, I go in and I just watch them," Kim says. "I imagine what kind of background music and sound effects would be appropriate, and then I just put them in."

Because Kim's musical score is such an integral part of the production, both Ricci and Webster expressed concern regarding his departure at the end of this year. "Ben Kim has been doing the music from the very beginning," Webster said. "I'm hoping, because he graduates this year, that he can train ... somebody who could possibly replace him, which I doubt."

Despite these challenges, the Neverland Players aren't likely to go away any time soon. In the years since its founding, the Players has established itself as a popular campus fixture and a creative alternative to formal theater productions. "Kat Henry originated this sort of far less, nonacademic type of theatre, where there aren't huge study books, study guides for each play, and it doesn't require dramaturgical research," said Ricci. "It's a lot more of a light-hearted, imaginative type of theatre."

The Neverland Players relies heavily on collaboration between directors and cast members. "It focuses a lot on the actors' creativity, and the actors' working together, because they are the ones who come up with the ideas for the stories, for the sketches that we have," Webster said. "We're not imposing a certain directorial concept."

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