“The more eyes on it, the better.” Mr. Noble pointed to a dangling rope. “Yesterday we installed the equipment and tested it. This here is called a flying wire.” He took out a flashlight and pointed it up to the ceiling to show where it connected and then followed its path down to a complex set of pulleys and cams. “It’s controlled by what we call a lift line. It used to be that for every flyer, you would need one or two humans on this line. We now have these robots that we will be programming in the choreography. It will be a little tedious, so you have to be patient, but once we have the movement entered, it’s actually easier and safer for the flyers.”
He tucked away the flashlight. “Who is Peter?”
“I am.” Jillian moved up to lean against Louise.
The instructor did a double take. “Oh! Twins! I think you’re going to be the smallest Peter I’ve worked with.”
Jillian put her hands on her hips, jerking Peter’s boldness up like a shield. “Size has nothing to do with talent!”
He grinned. “Of course not. Have you ever taken dance classes?”
“Yes.” The twins had taken a variety of dance classes at the YMCA.
“I take classes at the Dance Conservatory.” Elle stepped forward with ballet flourish. “I’m playing Wendy.”
“Good, good, that will help. Let’s get you into your harness.”
Louise took her place at the lighting board. She needed a stool to reach the array of monitors and switches. Mr. Noble had linked the lift operator robots to the stage’s computer. By design, the board was out of sight from anyone in the audience. Half-blinded by the lights on the stage, the teachers wouldn’t be able to see her if they stayed with the actors. Louise took out her phone and dialed Lain’s number. The call went through, but the line was busy. She hissed out a swear word. She wouldn’t be able to use an auto-dialer since she had to stay focused on the flyers while they were in the air. She couldn’t drop everything if the auto-dialer connected unexpectedly. She tucked her phone among the various buttons, switches, and slide controls. She hit disconnect and then redial.
She found a rhythm to her work. The action suggested a melody to her, so she would write a section of song, dial Lain’s number, program in the newest flight movements, check her phone’s screen, tweak the lighting, and disconnect from the busy signal. Carlos and Darius as Michael and John Darling were going to stay comic relief as they struggled with the flying. Jillian and Elle astounded Mr. Noble with the speed at which they learned the basics. He shifted them from the simple single harness that they started with into a three-point harness that would allow more complicated movements.
“Who designed your sets?” Mr. Noble asked as they started to program in the choreography of Peter’s secretive arrival at the Darling nursery.
“Louise did.” Mr. Howe’s focus was wholly on Jillian as she cartwheeled through the air, fifteen feet up. “In fifth grade, we turn everything over to the kids. Louise designed them and the class built them.”
“Really? Wow.” Mr. Noble gave a tip of a hat to Louise while keeping his eye on Jillian. “Your set is amazing for flying. Most productions forget about the three-dimensional aspects of the play and just do one level. And I really like the New York skyline twist. Never saw that before.”
Louise blushed. She’d considered possible flight movements when she designed the set, but it had been only a few minutes of thought, now lost in a flood of all the other considerations such as visual impact, ease of construction, cost, movability, and convertibility. The little loft area of Wendy’s bed was actually the flipside of the
Because the four actors were taking turns getting individual instructions, they didn’t take a break until the third-period bell.
“It’s been three hours!” Jillian cried after Louise updated her on the series of failures to connect with Lain. “Who the hell is she talking to?”
“Earth.”
“All of Earth?” Jillian flailed slightly on the stage floor, too tired to do more of a display of frustration.
“Everyone she knows only has one day a month to call her.”
“We’re running out of time. We only have until midnight and it’s almost eleven already. Half the day is gone.”
“We’ll just keep calling until we get through,” Louise said.
“Peter!” Mr. Noble called.
“Coming!” Jillian leapt up and bounded lightly onto stage as if she weren’t tired and struck a pose. “What need do you have of the great Peter Pan?”
