"For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday" by Prime Productions at Mixed Blood Theatre

Now in their 8th season of telling stories about women in their prime (at a time when we start to become invisible in society), Prime Productions is bringing us the regional premiere of Sarah Ruhl's For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday. Playwright Sarah Ruhl wrote this play for and about her mother, Chicago theater actor Kathleen Ruhl, who, like the character Ann in the play, played Peter Pan in an Iowa production and met Mary Martin (read more about that here). In this fictionalized version of her mother's life, Sarah explores ideas of family relationships, grief, loss, religion, faith, politics, and what it means to grow up (and do we have to?). It's an engaging and relatable 90 minutes. See it at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside neighborhood now through October 26.

the cast (human and canine) of Peter Pan
(photo by Glen Stubbe)

The play is structured as three main scenes connected by monologues from the main character Ann (played by Prime co-founder Alison Edwards). She begins by telling us stories from the time she played Peter Pan as a child in a production in Iowa. It's now 50 years later, and Ann and her four siblings gather around their father's deathbed, reminiscing about their childhood and their parents. When their dad dies, he doesn't actually leave; the actor who plays him (Erik Steen) stays on stage, wandering in and out, occasionally dropping things or in some other way making them aware he's there. The siblings retire to the family home in the second scene, conducting an Irish wake, with lots of Jameson. Here is where the conversation gets deeper and more contentious, discussing politics (this play was written in 2016, when family discussions about politics started to get more sticky), religion (they grew up Catholic, but their mother was a Lutheran-Atheist), and when each of then knew they were grown up. Ann declares she doesn't really feel like a grown-up. This segues nicely into the final scene, a charming play-acting scene in which these 50+ year old adult siblings pretend to be children acting out the story of Peter Pan. Conveniently, the siblings' names are Wendy (Beth Desotelle), John (Bob Malos), Michael (Terry Lynn Carlson), and Jim aka Captain James Hook (Kurt Schulz), so they easily step into these roles. They work through some of their family story via Peter Pan, which is a nice full circle moment to the opening monologue.

Peter and friends take a bow (photo courtesy of Prime)

Mirian Monasch directs the excellent six-person cast, who all really achieve the feeling of a family. They talk over each other at times, wink at each other, have little moments, and feel like an authentic family. The set is charmingly DIY, giving the feel of an Iowa community theater production. The set is entirely empty at the beginning, with curtains drawn across the space to form backdrops of the family home, or starlit sky, or Neverland, hospital furniture or a large kitchen table or a pirate ship wheeled onstage when necessary. The everyday costumes of the early scenes give way to childish play costumes of Peter Pan and friends. (Scenic design by Sadie Ward, costume design by Barb Portinga.)

For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday is a funny, moving, very relatable play about families going through the things that every family goes through as we get older, as well as the idea of what it means to grow up, what are the things that happen that force us to grow up, and how do we maintain a sense of play and childlike openness after we grow up. Let's face it, being a grown-up is hard, and it's nice to escape into the fantasy world of theater every once in a while (or nearly every day if you're me). It's even nicer when that theatrical fantasy world gives you perspective and comfort in your grown-up life.