GRANTS, N.M. – In the Grants High School production of Peter Pan, Captain Hook is a woman. Peter Pan, who is historically played by an adult woman, is played by a Grant’s High School newcomer who just “blew us away,” veteran director Anissa Shaver said. The Peter Pan production is a “re-telling by playwright Jon Jory.” According to Shaver, the production is very similar to the conventional Peter Pan story by Scottish writer J.M. Barrie that most of us are familiar with.
This production, like all of the Grants High dramatic productions, are open to the entire community, not just high schoolers. This time around, there were 22 roles. One actor is from St. Teresa Elementary School, another cast member is a student from Los Alamitos Middle School, and there is one non-student community member cast in the play. The rest of the cast is from Grants High. Shaver, who has been at Grants High School for eight years but has taught for 24 years, said, “Peter Pan was talked about for a couple of years. I threw it out there, and the kids liked it.”
Shaver, who has directed over 50 plays, said, “Seeing the kids grow is the most rewarding part of this. It’s the reason I love directing. Some of these kids have been in all of the productions. Watching their love for theater is the reason I do it. Plus, I like being able to make creative decisions.”
Captain Hook is played by Cheyenne Vernon, 16, who after acting in eight plays, said she’s still “excited and nervous.” The process of learning to play Captain Hook was intentional for Vernon who said, “I wanted Captain Hook because she’s a cool pirate lady, and I wanted to be a villain. I thought of her as a real-life person. How would she react to certain things? I looked up accents for pirates, and I watched movie scenes and translated that into what she would do.”
The Grants High School production of Peter Pan runs from March 10 11 with a 7 pm show time. Doors open at 6:30 pm, and the price is $10.