‘Peter Pan’ to soar at JPAC for Rummel’s Genesians

Fly with the Genesians
What: Archbishop Rummel Genesian Players’ performance of Peter Pan
When: Nov. 11, 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 12 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; and Nov. 13 at 2 p.m.
Where: Jefferson Performing Arts Center, 6400 Airline Drive, Metairie.
Tickets: $27-47 available at bit.ly/3TI3jv7

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald


To produce and direct the classic “Peter Pan” Broadway musical requires theater experience and technical know-how. And Brandt Blocker, director of Archbishop Rummel Genesian Players, thought the timing and talent of student actors and professionals converged perfectly this fall.
 

Blocker is directing “Peter Pan” with a cast of 34 Catholic middle and high school students Nov. 11-13 at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie. It’s the first Genesians show to be performed off-campus in 53 years, he said.

Since returning to his alma mater two years ago, Blocker has nurtured high school talent, and he culled his extensive theater resources and friends to amass the professional backstage team needed for the production.

Blocker’s team includes Karen Hebert as choreographer, assisted by Christina Tichenor; Cliff Stromeyer, audio team; Earl Lennie, lighting team; and Darlene Bremermann, technical team. Blocker also invited Genesian alum Scott Damian, a writer with DreamWorks, to host a master class for the cast.

“Nothing is more exciting than watching students grow in their faith and their artistry,” Blocker said, and that includes middle-school students he auditioned to fill the cast.

To accommodate a large cast and best execute technical abilities that would allow cast members to fly, Blocker contacted colleague Dennis Assaf, co-founder and artistic director at Jefferson Performing Arts Society (JPAS), for costumes and to rent the 1,047-seat theater. Their partnership will extend to student internships.

“Can you do Peter Pan without flying? You can, but everybody wants Peter Pan to fly,” he said. “I reached for the stars and dreamed big, and here we are. … I wanted to take it up a notch for the kids.”
Theater runs deep

Theater has been in Brandt Blocker’s blood since his debut as “Rolf” in St. Benilde’s “Sound of Music” production at Archbishop Rummel in 1985. His skills were honed further in the Genesian Players at Rummel under founding director Chuck Guajardo (“Mr. G”), who died in 2009 after four decades and 200-plus dramas, musicals and comedies.

“I got a real taste for performing here,” Blocker said about the Genesians. He was club president his senior year and was bestowed the coveted St. La Salle Award – named after Christian Brothers founder Jean Baptiste de La Salle – as a Rummel student.

“The work that Chuck did here for more than 40 years – he taught so many young men (and women),” Blocker said, mentioning numerous Genesian alums who have appeared on Broadway, television and film. “Chuck gave me my career. I tell the kids all the time, ‘I don’t know if you know how special this stage is.’”

When Archbishop Rummel principal Marc Milano invited Blocker to return to his alma mater in 2021 to direct the Genesian Players, he was determined to make it work, even though he lives in Atlanta and had just retired as executive/artistic director of City Springs Theatre in Atlanta. He knew his years of performing, directing and producing theater locally – winning five Big Easy Awards – and in Atlanta and Hong Kong would benefit the Genesians.

And, he said he was being “called” to further the Christian Brothers’ charism of education and service while channeling “to give one’s life for the sheep” motto of Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel, for whom the high school is named.


“I wanted to give back and be part of the rebuilding of the program … after COVID and the loss of audiences and the ability to perform in intimate spaces for 1 1/2 years,” Blocker said. “Then Hurricane Ida hit right when I got here, and students were affected and couldn’t perform.”


Students love Genesians
Rummel senior Michael Villella, who portrays Captain Hook, said Blocker’s experience as a Genesian and theater professional and the discipline he requires as a director has taught him and fellow thespians what it takes to balance school work and theater and produce high-quality theater.

“I’m really blessed we’ve had him the last two years,” Villella said. “It’s a big step to have (Peter Pan’s) ‘Lost Boys’ from other schools, and every dance we do is completely mesmerizing.”

Mount Carmel senior Meredith Charbonnet as Wendy rounds out the lead cast, with sophomore Bella Melton as Tiger Lily; and Dominican freshman Leah Gilmore as Peter Pan, 35 years after her mother Jennifer Stromeyer portrayed Peter in a St. Benilde production.


Charbonnet relishes the disciplined, welcoming and positive theater environment Blocker brings to the Genesians.

“It’s like a family,” Charbonnet said. “Everyone is so into it, giving their all and supporting and helping each other grow.”

With mentoring encouraged among the cast, Melton’s Tiger Lily guides the grammar school kids in “Peter Pan.”

“I enjoy being a sister/role model,” Melton said.

And, an all-youth cast brings energy to the show.

“The reason to come see the show is that there are kids in it, so it adds a youthful tone,” said Charbonnet. “And, flying. That’s fun!”

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