THOMASVILLE- Set sail on an awfully big adventure with the cast and crew of “Peter and the Starcatcher” on Monday, October 23 at 7 p.m.

“Peter and the Starcatcher” is Thomasville City Schools Drama Program’s One-Act performance for 2023, and they will be hosting a community performance this year prior to the competition.

According to Director Brantley Ivey, the show is a backstory to the Disney classic “Peter Pan” and highlights some of the senior actors and actresses’ most endearing qualities.

“The show lets us know how these characters became who they are and how Peter got his name,” she explained. “It’s really an origin story for Peter, Mrs. Darling and Captain Hook. I selected the piece largely based on the seniors we had and their unique abilities.”

The seniors, who include Evan Ariail (Lord Aster), Hogan Watson (Peter Pan), Kelon Vaughan (Black Stache), Janice Dong (narrator) and Colin Connery (Prentiss), were all excited to take part in such a whimsical show that truly showcases the best of each of their abilities.

“I feel like it’s a really well-chosen show,” Watson said. “We all have different things that we’re good at, as actors and I feel like this really highlights what we are good at.”

The show is normally shown to just the judges at the One-Act Competition. However, having the chance to show their parents and friends what they’ve been working on is an exciting opportunity for all those who participate, especially some of the newcomers.

“With the community performance, it gives us a preview, especially some of the new kids for how it feels to act in front of an audience, instead of an empty stage every day,” Connery said. “We do get feedback; it’s usually not very constructive, but it is beneficial for the younger actors to understand what the pressure is like in front of a live audience.”

Vaughn and Ariail both took part in the spring musical last year, but this is their first year taking part in One-Act, and are thrilled to take in the moment.

“I think I’m more excited for the community performance,” Vaughn said. “I can’t wait for my friends and family to see it, because I don’t really have anything to base it on, excitement-wise, for the competition itself. I’m not nervous or anything, just excited.”

Having a live audience also gives the actors a glimpse into what they are doing well and what may need some work.

“In my experience, one of the most important things to take from a community performance is to know where people laugh, clap and cheer,” Watson said. “At competitions, people don’t want to be involved, because they want you to be not as good as them.”

Watson and Connery are both veteran performers in the One-Act competition and hope to stun the judges this year.

Last year, they were named Region Runners-up, while two years ago, they took home the title of Region Champions.

“I really feel like last year we got out-produced as opposed to out-acted,” Connery said. “The school that won region last year had a pretty technical show and usually with One-Act, you’re not supposed to base it off the set or anything like that, because it’s more of an acting competition.”

Connery went on to say their set last year was pretty simple, but this year they’ve made not only the acting fantastic but created a technical show that will wow the judges.

“We really think we will not only impress the judges with our acting skills but also the visual aspect of the show,” he said.

Dong, who has previously appeared only backstage, working with the sets, is excited to take the stage and learn from other actors at the competition on how to truly embrace her role as narrator.

Regardless of the end result, all of the seniors and Ivey are proud of the hard work everyone has put in to make the show a success.

“We just have a really spectacular, hard-working cast,” Vaughn said. “We’ve been spending a lot of time working on this show and it’s so great to see it all come together and I’m so proud of every cast member.”

All of the seniors thank everyone for their support and hope this show will continue to drum up interest in the One-Act team moving forward.