Acting's ups and downs

Countryside High's drama group is having fun learning how to take flight for Peter Pan. The downside? It hurts.

[Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford]

Countryside High senior Samantha Brown flies during a rehearsal for Peter Pan. Her father, Bill, controls her flying apparatus.

CLEARWATER - Samantha Brown will be flying a lot in the next few days. But she isn't going in an airplane.

The 18-year-old drama student will fly with the help of a harness and ropes when she takes the stage in the lead role of the Countryside High School production of Peter Pan. The musical fantasy begins Thursday at the school's auditorium.

Samantha really trusts the person who is controlling her movements. It's her father, Bill Brown.

"Flying is exciting, it's fun, and it's a rewarding experience because I feel like no other actors - well, not many actors - get to do this," said Samantha, a senior. "It's very painful at first, but you start to get used to it. Then you train your body to get in a harness. Your first couple times up are really difficult, but once you get into (it), you've got it."

The pain eases a bit because she knows her father is down there making sure she will be fine.

"I feel safer because I know it's him," Samantha said. "It's kind of cool because I know we get to do a show together. And he gets to see how it really is backstage.

"It's difficult because we kind of get in spats when we try to hook the harness, but then after a little bit of it, we start to get used to it together and we work as a real team."

Said Bill Brown: "I'm excited because she's a senior and this is her swan song as she leaves high school. So we're real proud that this is the show she's in. . . . I'm real proud to be involved with her and she's having so much of a good time. I'm really happy to be a part of that."

It was a little difficult getting started, though.

"Once we got the feel of it, it worked out really nicely," Bill Brown said. "But learning it for the first time to get the feel was pretty interesting. It took us quite a few times."

The magic of flying is made possible by Flying By Foy, a Las Vegas company that has been bringing flight to stage productions for more than a half-century. Foy's Robert Fejer traveled from Las Vegas to Clearwater to help the students take flight.

For three days, Fejer trained the students and the adults who would be flying them. He taught Brown, 48, of Clearwater and John Heinz, 38, of Tampa how to hoist the students, who are hanging from ropes, in the air. Then they learned the motions to make the flight seem realistic. Brown controls the movement, and Heinz controls the up-and-down motion.

Samantha said it helps to "arch your back, but other than that, the rest of your body just needs to relax. You can't jump; you just have to trust your flying men."

Her co-stars agree. "It takes a bit of practice to get used to the movement," said senior Brittany McDonald, 17, who plays Wendy Darling, one of the Darling family children Peter Pan takes to Neverland. Brittany is in her third year of theater and was in Footloose for Largo's Eight O'Clock Theatre company.

"Flying is really fun," said freshman Jonathan Mullen, 15, who plays Michael Darling. "I like it, but with the fun you also have the pain. It hurts a little bit down in the thighs. "Flying, you have to kind of flow with the person who is pulling your rope. I have to go from the stage, and I have to fly up to the windowsill, and they have to pull me, but it's my job to make sure I get to the windowsill and I stand there. So it's kind of a team effort."

Jarrett Koski, 15, also a freshman, auditioned for the part of Mr. Smee, Capt. Hook's sidekick. Instead, he landed the prime role of John Darling.

"Besides the pain, it's really fun," he said. "I feel safe in it when we were flying. I just have so much fun with it. (It takes) a lot of nice posture, which is good to be practicing because I play a boy who wants to be like his father, so I have to be proper."

The flying equipment was shipped in and took about six to eight hours to set up, said James Hansen, also from Flying By Foy. The company, which has a patent on its harnesses and equipment, is known around the world for its flying techniques and has put stars in the air on such shows as Saturday Night Live and Late Show with David Letterman. Currently, the company is flying actors in The Lion King stage production in four countries.

Bill and Samantha Brown agreed that this experience has brought them closer. It was also more comforting for him to know that he's flying his daughter. "Although her mother says if I drop her, she's going to get mad at both of us," he said. "So there's pressure there."

- Molly Hays, 15, is in ninth grade at Countryside High School in Clearwater.

Preview

Peter Pan, the musical story of the boy who never grows up, will be presented by Countryside High School Thespian Troupe 900 at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Countryside auditorium, 3000 State Road 580, Clearwater. Admission is $10 for adults, $6 for senior citizens, and $5 for ages 12 and younger. For information, call (727) 725-7956, ext. 163.

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