The thing about Peter Pan Goes Wrong is that the title sounds like a joke until you realize how insanely difficult this show actually is.
Because for a production built entirely around chaos, everything has to be meticulously controlled.
That is part of what makes SCAD’s upcoming production at the Lucas Theatre so interesting. Beneath all the collapsing scenery, missed cues, actors going rogue, and technical disasters is an enormous amount of precision, coordination, and craftsmanship happening behind the scenes.
Running May 21 through May 24 at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts, Peter Pan Goes Wrong is SCAD’s latest large-scale theatrical production, and it may be one of the school’s most technically ambitious projects yet.
Originally created by Mischief Theatre, the same team behind The Play That Goes Wrong, the show follows a fictional amateur theater company attempting to stage Peter Pan. Naturally, everything spirals out of control. Sets malfunction. Actors forget lines. Flying sequences fail spectacularly. Timing collapses. And somehow, the disaster itself becomes the comedy.
But making intentional disaster look believable is incredibly difficult.
“This play is a true masterclass in collaboration,” says Christopher Murrah, associate chair of SCAD’s acting program and director of the production. “It demands that every element, from costume, lighting, sound and performance, works in complete sync.”
That collaboration stretches across nearly every corner of SCAD’s production departments. More than 90 students are involved in the show, including actors, costume designers, scenic artists, lighting designers, sound designers, stage managers, and technical crews.
And then there is the flying.
One of the wildest elements of this production is that students are working directly with ZFX Flying Effects, the same company known throughout Broadway and major theatrical productions for aerial choreography systems. Students have reportedly gone through specialized “flight school” training in order to execute the production’s high impact flying sequences safely while still making them look chaotic and hilarious on stage.
Additional pyrotechnic effects from Pyro Productions add another layer to the spectacle, including controlled flames, smoke, spark bursts, and theatrical effects woven directly into the comedy.
The result is not just a comedy. It is controlled mayhem built with professional-level stagecraft.
And that may be the most interesting part of all.
SCAD productions often blur the line between student theater and fully professional productions, but this one especially feels designed to showcase just how much technical talent exists inside Savannah’s creative community right now.
The cast itself includes 15 performers, including Eric Rubio as Peter Pan, Kaitlyn Johnson as Tinkerbell, and acting junior Brooklyn Nelson stepping into the role of Wendy. Nelson previously appeared in the original Broadway production of Frozen as young Elsa, adding another interesting layer of professional experience to the production.
Behind them, more than 60 additional students are helping build the world audiences will see on stage each night.
That scale matters.
Savannah has quietly become one of the most creatively active small cities in the country, largely because of the ecosystem SCAD continues building across film, design, fashion, production, and performance. Shows like this are reminders that the city is not just consuming culture anymore. It is actively producing it.
And honestly, Peter Pan Goes Wrong feels like the perfect fit for that energy.
It is theatrical craftsmanship disguised as comedy. A production where every fake mistake requires real expertise. Where actors have to hit technical marks perfectly in order for everything to appear completely broken.
“What audiences will experience is spectacular and hilarious,” Murrah says. “Behind that is a level of craftsmanship and teamwork that mirrors, and at times surpasses, exactly what our students will encounter in the professional world.”
Performances of Peter Pan Goes Wrong take place Thursday, May 21 through Saturday, May 23 at 7 p.m., with a Sunday, May 24 matinee at 3 p.m. at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts. Tickets are available through SCAD Box Office.
Tickets:
Lucas Theatre
Book Tickets
