Maysee McLean and the students of Strathroy District Collegiate Institute
iFilmGroup member Maysee McLean and the students of Strathroy District Collegiate Institute lifted the audience away to another land with their version of the Tony Award-winning production “Peter and the Starcatcher”. The play is based on the 2004 children’s novel “Peter and the Starcatcher” by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and freely adapted for the stage by Rick Elice. It is billed as a prequel to Peter Pan and provides a backstory for the characters of Peter Pan, Mrs. Darling, Tinker Bell and Hook, and serves as a prequel to J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy.
The production is billed as “a wickedly imaginative play”, in which you meet a poor orphaned child on the high seas simply called “Boy” because, in the absence of a mother and a father, he was never given a name. His sad and lonely world is turned upside down when he meets Molly. The daughter of famous Starcatcher Lord Astor, our heroine is on a mission to save the world and protect a treasure trunk filled with magical star stuff from getting into the hands of evil and greedy pirate Black Stache. As they travel aboard the Neverland ship headed for a faraway land, Molly and Boy learn about love, friendship and forge an unbreakable bond.
The role of Molly in the production was played by Maysee McLean. Her performance was taken to a new level during the show in more than one way as the tech crew made her levitate during the show to show the character's magical powers. How they made this possible is a secret only those in attendance at the show and the cast and crew know.
iFilmGroup co-founder and m & s Marshall Production co-owner Matthew Marshall was in attendance. However, he will not reveal the secret of how they did it. But he will say it was very creative and he was impressed with how they pulled it off. “I loved the show. I loved their creativity in bringing it to life and how they made certain challenging technical elements within the play come to life in a very creative and effective way”, says Marshall.
The production allowed McLean to do two things she loves to do. Sing and act. “I’ve been super excited to be playing this role”, says McLean about playing Molly and being a part of the production. “Molly the Starcatcher is a very confident, strong-willed and intelligent girl who will risk everything for the sake of doing right”, McLean goes on to add. McLean was not the only star of the show. Aretina Veh played the role of “The Boy/ Peter. The cast also featured Hannah Sladics as Black Stache. Along with a very talented and passionate group of other actors and actresses behind them in a supporting cast role as well as a wonderful tech crew.
It was clear when the final bows were done and final curtain fell that this dedicated group from SDCI had been bonded together as a group in a way that only a person who has been part of a show or production understands. Each will move on in their lives but they are connected and forever changed for the time they shared in to bring the production to life. From the hugs, tears and the entire cast working together to put props, costumes and set pieces away it was clear that this team had come together to create a wonderful production. But they had also learned to work together as a team and made new friendships and connects that will last them their entire lives.
The ifilmGroup team salutes this fine group of students and teachers who brought this wonderful play together.
After a short time of rest McLean will be back at it acting in Marshall’s hour-long film "Blue Love" which starts filming very soon. She will play the role of Piper Keys in the film. McLean stepped into the spotlight of iFilmGroup and m & s Marshall Productions when she attended an open casting audition call in January. She impressed the audition panel and came out of those auditions in the weeks that followed cast in three roles. She was cast as Piper Keys in "Blue Love". She was also cast as part of the iFilmGroup promotional video that currently is in production to be a tool to help show people what iFilmGroup is doing. She also has been part of some additional footage for the short film "Struggles Within".
Great job Maysee and the students and staff of Strathroy District Collegiate Institute.
the iFilmGroup Production Team