Summit High's Peter Pan: Stage Combat Workshop Highlights

SUMMIT, NJ – The company of Summit High School’s fall play Peter Pan and Wendy: A New Old Adventure geared up to fly and fight their way through Neverland in a four-hour stage combat and lift workshop last Saturday.

While this version of J.M. Barrie’s beloved classic is a modernized version of the tale, it still features the same familiar characters and their lively skirmishes. To prepare the cast to wield their weapons convincingly and safely, director Anne Poyner enlisted the help of Cause and FX, a professional theatre consulting team from Centenary University who have worked on a number of past Summit High School productions, including She Kills Monsters , Romeo and Juliet , and Pippin . On Saturday, Cause and FX founders Stephen Davis and Erik Gaden taught the cast of Peter Pan and Wendy a number of stage fighting techniques, such as realistic unarmed hand combat and dramatic sword fighting.

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In addition to fight choreography, Davis and Gaden also taught students how to “fly” one another across the stage. In Summit’s upcoming production, a team of actors will lift Peter, Tinker Bell, and the Darling siblings over their heads in a creative, beautiful reimagining of flight.

Director Anne Poyner says, “Stephen Davis and Erik Gaden bring out the best in our actors! Not only do they learn professional stage combat techniques, but they also learn to create exciting, believable characters for our funny, heart-warming story that adventurers of all ages will love.”

Later this month, these high school students will get the chance to teach what they learned to younger Hilltoppers at a Stage Combat and Acting Workshop for Summit 4th and 5th graders. They, along with Cause and Fx and Director Anne Poyner, will teach these elementary students safety techniques and a few basic moves, which they will use to create a short combat scene. This workshop will be held on October 24, from 5:30 to 7 pm in the Summit High School Auditorium, and parents can register here .

Peter Pan and Wendy will be performed in the Summit High School Auditorium on Friday, November 15, at 7 pm and Saturday, November 16, at 1 pm and 7 pm. Tickets will go on sale in November and can be purchased by visiting Hilltopper Stage Productions at https://cur8.com/projects/hilltopper .

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