Alexis Maze ’23 is featured as Wendy in the Lewis Center’s production of Kimberly Belflower’s post-Neverland play, Lost Girl. Photo Credit: Abe Jacobs
(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater at Princeton University will present Lost Girl by Kimberly Belflower, a play that follows Peter Pan’s Wendy after she leaves Neverland and faces growing up while struggling with mental illness. The production features Princeton senior Alexis Maze as Wendy and is directed by junior Sabina Jafri. Performances are on February 24 at 7:30pm and Feburary 25 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm in the Drapkin Studio at the Lewis Arts complex on the Princeton campus. The show is free and open to the public; no tickets are required.
In Belflower’s play, Wendy and the Lost Boys have grown up after leaving Neverland and are forced to reckon with the “after” of their magical adventure. Far away from pixie dust and pirates they find themselves experiencing depression and joy, loneliness and friendship, heartbreak and love. While Wendy struggles to meet new people, move on, and mend her broken heart, she comes to the terrible realization that she has lost something: the kiss she gave to Peter Pan. As she endeavors to find him and take back her kiss, she finds his other victims — girls taken just like her — and discovers that Peter Pan has grown up and left Neverland for a different girl than her. With the chorus of girls voicing the judgment of strangers, the Lost Boys seeming so well adjusted, and the women in Wendy’s life begging her to get a grip and move forward, the show tackles what it really means to grow up in this world while struggling with mental illness and trauma. Lost Girl asks: When everything in life seems to revolve around the “before,” how do we rebuild ourselves in the aftermath?
The Drapkin Studio is wheelchair accessible. Guests in need of access accommodations are asked to contact the Lewis Center at [email protected] at least one week prior to the event date.
Maze proposed Lost Girl as her senior independent work in pursuit of a certificate in the Program in Theater. With all that has happened on the Princeton campus in the last few years, Maze felt it was important to put on a show that depicts the reality of mental health struggles. She wanted to combat the performativity surrounding mental health conversations by depicting the reality of depression as a long, frustrating, and difficult illness. She hopes that the audience will see their own challenges within the characters as they struggle, grow, and heal.
Maze, from Brockport, Pennsylvania, is majoring in English and pursuing a certificate in creative writing as well as theater. At Princeton she has been heavily involved in student theater, both as an actress and Theatre Intime board member. Most recently, she played Olivia in Intime’s production of Twelfth Night. She hopes to pursue a creative writing M.F.A. after graduating from Princeton and eventually become a novelist.
Other students in the Lost Girl cast include Solomon Bergquist, Matthew Cooperberg, Fatima Diallo, Dominic Dominguez, Melanie Garcia, Ayushmaan Aashish Kher, Jacquelynn Lin, Elena Milliken, Kate Stewart, Liam Wang, and Layla Williams.
Members of the student production team, in addition to Jafri, who is also scenic designer, are Kat McLaughlin as lighting designer, Vincent Gerardi and Kate Stewart as choreographers, Nicabec Casido as stage manager, and Josh Wells as assistant stage manager. Faculty advisors include Lecturers in Theater Shariffa Ali and Tess James.
All visitors to Princeton University are expected to be either fully vaccinated, have recently received and be prepared to show proof of a negative COVID test (via PCR within 72 hours or via rapid antigen within 8 hours of the scheduled visit), or agree to wear a face covering when indoors and around others.
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about this event, the Program in Theater, and the more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, and lectures presented each year by the Lewis Center for the Arts, most of them free.
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