What: Main stage co-production with NeWorld Theatre
Where: The Vancouver East Cultural Centre
When: PuSh festival, February 2-13, 2011
Who: Niall McNeil and Marcus Youssef (writers), Steven Hill and Lois Anderson (directors), Veda Hille (musical director), Michele Valiquette (dramaturge), Molly March, Nita Bowerman, David Mesiha, Stephan Bircher (designers), Peter Anderson, Adrienne Wong, Sasa Brown, Lesley Ewen, Allan Zinyk, Tanya Podlozniuk, James Long (performers), Oscar Youssef, Elena Anderson-Kirby, Ruby Izzat (youth performers), Sky Lambourne, Joseph Abbott, Liam Hill-Allen, Zak Youssef (youth musicians).
Peter Panties enjoyed a very successful premiere at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre (February 2-13) as part of the 2011 PuSh Festival. The show was seen by nearly 1800 audience members and had several sold-out performances. The critical reception was positive and culminated in a Jessie Richardson honour, and a Critics Choice Innovation award win in June 2011.
Peter Panties was written by 28 year-old Leaky Heaven veteran, Niall McNeil (whose life experience includes living with Down Syndrome), and NeWorld’s Marcus Youssef. McNeil’s vision was a radical re-imagining of the story of Peter Pan, where the creative process of story telling itself and what it means to grow up with difference and desire, were explored. It is, according to one critic, “an absurdist deconstruction of our cultural assumptions” in which elements of the original tale are expanded and exploded through intersections with Macbeth, rock songs, CSI investigations, and questions about sex.
