Departing from Neverland is like disappointedly waking up from a perfect dream for Wendy Darling in “Lost Girl.” The Pepperdine Theatre Department’s latest production opened Tuesday in Lindhurst Theatre and played nightly at 7:30 p.m., through Saturday, Sept. 28, which also included a 2 p.m. matinée showing.
Set in the world of Peter Pan, the tender coming-of-age story tackles intense themes of loss, romance, loneliness, womanhood and connection as Wendy, played by junior Theatre major Grace Sardar, is forced to grow up after seeing the magic of Neverland and experiencing her first love with Peter.
“It’s something that I feel like so many people can relate to on such different levels,” said senior Theatre major Santana Mosher, who assistant directed the production for her senior thesis. “What I’m really hoping for is that in the audience, we have a lot of people who can see themselves in Wendy, in what she’s going through in the waiting and in the agitation and frustration of that.”
Wendy remains on stage for the duration of the entire 90-minute show. Her dialogue drives every conversation, much of it self-reflective lamentations of her inability to reconcile with the harsh realities of life.
Director and Visiting Professor Nanci Carol Ruby emphasized the importance of “Lost Girl” for young people in the post-COVID era.
“The [theme] that I’m really focused on, because I think it really relates to the COVID generation, is the journey from isolation to connection,” Ruby said. “I love looking at old stories through a new lens, because I think that really tells us a lot about our present times.”
Rows of seating closely surrounded the two adjacent edges of the black box theatre’s ground-level stage, which made for an intimate experience as Wendy frequently spoke directly to audience members.
“It’s not just important for young girls,” Sardar said. “But for everyone to hear in a way that they’re going to feel like they’re right in the story.”
The Lost Boys, played by seniors Evan Huit and Kendall Griffin and sophomores Kysiah Tapia and David Shin, repeatedly climb through Wendy’s window to give her constant perspective as she grows older over the course of the play. Slightly, who Huit portrays, is madly in love with Wendy, but struggles to gain her affection because she’s stuck longing for the same feeling elicited by her initial romantic spark with Peter.
“There’s a vision statement, which is breaking out of the loop,” Ruby said. “And that refers to those patterns of things we get into because of difficult times, and things that we need, for our own best interests, we need to break out of.”
The number eight, which doubles as an infinity symbol, represents this loop, Ruby said. For years, Wendy allots “eight minutes a day” to think about Peter’s promised return, an endless loop that only sends her spiraling further into grief. The number could also be spotted in physical form: geometrically arranged on the wallpaper, spelled by wooden blocks in the nursery, even once traced by Wendy’s finger along a step.
The set itself, described by Sardar as looking “like a Disneyland ride,” remained static throughout the show. The 12 cast members manually moved props on and off stage when necessary. Half of the cast played two roles.
Auditions for “Lost Girl” were held last April, and rehearsals began on Aug. 14, Ruby said.
“It’s always been a fast process,” Mosher said. “But it’s been really wonderful seeing how much magic has been created out of all that.”
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Contact Henry Adams via email: henry.adams@pepperdine.edu
