“Peter and the Star-Catcher” is a play about found family, growing up, and self-discovery. Glendale Community College has put on several shows with hundreds of different meanings that all seemed to come back down to “family.” Whether it be a family that the cast made together (“What Connects Us”) or a group of friends going through different life experiences all at once (“I Love You Because”). “Peter and the Star-Catcher” follows the story of an orphan boy who meets a girl named Molly. They go up against pirates, mermaids, and sea-creature kings. The boy learns things about himself and in a self-discovery moment, he becomes what we know as Peter Pan. Peter creates a found family with the Lost Boys and Molly. But Molly is forced to go back to London where she soon grows up and has a new family of her own – Wendy Darling being her daughter.

The director for “Peter and the Star-Catcher” is Melody Gunter. She earned her PhD in theatre studies from the University of Essex in England. Her thesis focused on movement, which is evident in how she directs this production. Movement is a very important part of this show. The way Melody directed this was to make it a very ensemble-heavy show. Every single person that was cast, no matter how large or small the part was, is a moving set piece, helping someone else in a scene, holding a blue umbrella and becoming water, etc. The one thing that Melody would say during rehearsals was “there are no small parts.” The whole cast felt included and like as if they were helping move a ship across the ocean.

“Peter and the Star-Catcher” had more people leave this show than any other production this author has been a part of. It started with a 15-person cast, with five members lost for a variety of reasons. Instead of the remaining cast freaking out and letting it get to their heads or scaring them away from ever doing this show, the rest of stayed and did their jobs. They showed up to rehearsals and did our scenes with what little bit of cast we had left. Melody Gunter is a strong director and she stuck around and proved just how strong she was by getting us four new cast members and then moving around some bits and pieces to give some people a double role, like Mrs. Bumbrake and Teacher became one person and Grempkin and Captain Falcon Scott became one.

This wasn’t the only condensing that Melody had to do. The lighting designer had a personal issue the night before tech week and wasn’t able to design the show’s light cues. So, in proper Melody fashion, she took it upon herself and throughout tech week; she not only designed the light cues but also the sound cues and she staged the whole show. Our tech crew consisted of seven people: A director, An assistant director/ASM, 2 co-ASM’s, a scenic designer, a costume designer, and a producer. There was no official stage manager because Melody was in the booth calling the show herself the whole night every night. She had two assistant stage managers (ASM) working in the booth with her and then one ASM in the wings backstage running back and forth by herself helping the cast. She also happened to be the assistant director.

People who joined the cast later in the production were so professional and the rest of the cast was so welcoming and helpful that one could really see the warmth created by the cast. One of the cast members even mentioned that he was worried about joining the cast so late because he was scared at the thought of them needing him so badly because we weren’t on our “A” Game. But he was quickly proven wrong when he did a first rehearsal and saw that his fellow cast was absolutely on their “A” Game. Th

ey stayed professional throughout the entire production from start to finish all because of how they were shown by Melody to stay calm and keep doing your best because if no one notices, she will.

The way the crew listens to Melody is truly amazing to see. And the way her image in her head can be seen on a stage through the actors and actresses that stuck around. Melody created an environment that felt safe and warm. The dressing rooms were filled with laughter and comfort. When the cast was on that stage, whether performing for a full audience or just for Melody in the booth, the cast was happy to be there and no matter how bad the joke is, the director up in the booth laughed knowing that it is just going to make us that much happier to be up on that stage.

Up the Gunter!

Sydnie Marks played Smee in the GCC production, “Peter and the Star-Catcher.”