CHARACTERS
The Orphans
Peter: A boy who doesn’t miss much. Nameless, homeless and friendless at the beginning of the play, and a hero by the end. Feral, brave, competitive, the boy the others will come to look up to. A survivor. More than anything in the world, he wants a home and a family.
Prentiss: A bit older than Peter. Ambitious, hyper-articulate, logical, yearns to be a leader even as he knows he never shall be one, on account of the fact that the boys wouldn’t follow him no matter what, and also just the teeny-tiniest touch of cowardice.
Ted: Obsessed with food: the finding of, the eating of, the fighting over, the dreaming about. The most talented of the boys, a natural actor, an easy wit, maybe even a poet.
The British Subjects
Lord Leonard Aster: The very model of a Victorian English gentleman, loyal subject to the Queen, devoted father to Molly, faithful friend. Lord Aster is a Starcatcher dedicated to protecting the earth and all who dwell thereon from the awesome power of starstuff.
Molly Aster: Raised to believe females can do anything males can. A natural leader, at a time when girls are mostly followers. Fearless, passionate, devoted to her father, her country and her Queen. Willing to risk everything for the sake of Doing Right. Curious, intelligent, beginning to feel things she doesn’t yet understand-romantic longings that revert to childish tantrums under pressure-because, for the moment, she’s still a thirteen-year-old kid.
Mrs. Bumbrake: Molly’s Nanny. British through and through, not afraid of anything including her late husband. A no-nonsense, good-time gal, who still has enough of her girlish charm intact to turn a sailor’s head.
Captain Robert Falcon Scott: Captain of the sports teams at Trinity School, now commander of the fastest ship in Victoria’s fleet, the Wasp.
Grempkin: The malodorous schoolmaster of St. Norbert’s Orphanage for Lost Boys. Known as The Angel of Anguish, he keeps his boys in the dark.
The Seafarers Aboard The Neverland
Bill Slank: A vicious Captain without the skill or quality to lead anyone but himself, and always into disaster. Would sell his own mother for a ship to command, would kill his best friend for a leg-up from the stinking hold he calls home. Cheerfully aids the awful machinations of those who would use starstuff for personal gain, global domination, or worse. An orphan, too.
Alf: An old seadog who’s prouder of achieving the rank of “Mister” than he should be, given the state of the competition. A white knight in search of a damsel, any damsel. Something about him appeals to the feminine sensibility; might be his bow legs, his saucy gait or his kind heart.
Mack: A very bad sailor who wants to be anywhere else but under the thumb of Bill Slank.
The Seafarers Aboard The Wasp
The Black Stache: Long after most everyone else had gotten out of the Pirate business, The Black Stache continues to terrorize the seven seas. Ruthless, peerless, heartless and hirsute, suspiciously well read, partial to the poetical and theatrical, and married to his piratical career with a ferocity from which no good shall ever spring.
Smee: First mate to The Black Stache. Simple-minded but single-mindedly dedicated to his Captain’s every whim.
Sanchez: A hard-working Spanish pirate with an identity crisis.
The Natives
Fighting Prawn: King of the Mollusk natives, son of Jumbo Prawn and Littleneck Clam. Kidnapped by British sailors and brought in chains to England, he served as sous-chef below stairs in a country estate in Derbyshire, where, for no good reason, he learned Italian wines and mastered Italian cuisine. Since returning to his island kingdom, he has vengefully murdered any English with the temerity to land on his Mollusk Isle domain.
Hawking Clam: Son of Fighting Prawn. Hawking understands his father’s hatred for the British, but, as often happens with younger generations, he will gladly bend such strictures when, one day, he ascends to the Clam throne as head of the Royal Clam Clan.
Teacher: Formerly a salmon, now an ancient, knowledgeable mermaid.