A Conversation with the Young Stars of Finding Neverland and A.R.T. Education and Community Programs Manager Brendan Shea
BRENDAN: How did you guys get into acting?
SAWYER: I was never one of those tap-dancing one-year-olds. I grew up in New Orleans and did my school’s play of Little Red Riding Hood. I just kind of fell in love with it. Theater was something I knew I wanted to do, so I came up to New York to audition for Matilda and I got that role. So, thank you school plays!
ALEX: Well, my preschool teacher’s son was in a few Broadway shows, so she encouraged my parents to get me to see a manager she knew. She encouraged the manager to take me.
HAYDEN: I was inspired by my sister. She came up to me and was like, “Get mom to allow us to act.” We walked right up to our mom — she was ten, I was four — and we said to her: “We want representation!”
AIDAN: My friend Zach acted, and he said, “Hey you should do this,” and I was like, “Okay, fine.” That’s the really short version.
HAYDEN: Me and Aidan did Mary Poppins together.
BRENDAN: So Matilda, Mary Poppins… you guys have experience in some major shows. What has it been like working with Diane Paulus as a director?
HAYDEN: Diane has a vision of what she wants to do, and has very interesting ways of doing it. For instance, she gave us a project to do. It’s a five-minute presentation of a bunch of things about your character. You bring in an object, do a little jig, etc. She really just wants to see who you are as an actor, and how you incorporate some of your own imagination into your part.
SAWYER: Like Hayden says, she has a vision, but it’s also very free. Everything comes from what your character is feeling in the moment. It’s really nice to work like that.
BRENDAN: Do you remember your first experience with Peter Pan? How have your ideas about the original story changed now that you’ve learned more about where it came from?
HAYDEN: I was three and I had a book of all these children’s stories going back to the 1800s. One of the stories was Peter Pan and that’s how I first came to know him.
SAWYER: I first saw the Disney movie when I was young. I was kind of that kid who was jumping around on the couch pretending to be Peter Pan. What I really fell in love with was the fact that Peter Pan was always optimistic. That sort of relates to the story we’re doing right now. In this show, not everything is peachy-keen-milk-and-cookies, you know what I mean? But if we see the optimistic side of what’s facing us, it can make things a whole lot better.
BRENDAN: Do those of you who have siblings bring some of that relationship into this show, since you’re all playing brothers? Or is it completely different at home?
HAYDEN: It’s completely different!
SAWYER: The cast is really a family while you’re here; there are people in my actual family, like my cousins, that I don’t talk to as much as I talk to these guys. It’s really nice being in a show with people you can connect with on things you love to do outside of theater.
HAYDEN: He means video games. That’s kind of what we plan to do.
BRENDAN: The balance between playing and keeping yourself emotionally grounded is one of the big themes of Finding Neverland, and one that definitely resonates with me. How about you? What in Finding Neverland speaks to you?
HAYDEN: I think the show is purely about imagination.
SAWYER: I feel that these kids needed J. M. Barrie. Peter Pan could fly in the story, and these kids did fly through their friendship with Barrie. They needed him, and he needed them, and together they created a relationship that brought them through the toughest times in their lives.
BRENDAN: Finding Neverland is truly enjoyable for everybody, but do you think it’s especially important that people your age get a chance to see this production?
ALEX: Yes. Some kids who see Finding Neverland might be going through a similar situation to this family. I think this play might help kids get a better attitude about bad things that happen in their lives.
BRENDAN: Do you want to be like Peter Pan and never grow up?
AIDAN: I think Hayden wants to grow up.
HAYDEN: Yeah, I do.
AIDAN: I never want to grow up, I like my childhood.
SAWYER: I’m alright. I’m good right now.
ALEX: Yeah, I think I’m good, too, at least for a while.
