Show Presents ‘Peter Pan’ as Shadowy Work : Music, Puppetry, Illusions Are Just Part of Black Light Theatre’s Magic

Growing up in the former Czechoslovakia, actor Marek Feit didn’t know much about James Matthew Barrie’s “Peter Pan.” The Prague native didn’t read the book until he was 18, and to this day, he’s never seen Disney’s animated version.

Now a member of the Black Light Theatre of Prague, Feit is still in the dark about “Peter Pan.”

Feit and 17 other Czech artists in the company’s U.S. touring cast will be at Orange Coast College on Friday in a staging that employs manipulated ultraviolet light and illusion against a backdrop of darkness.

The 80-minute show--which incorporates original music, puppetry, dance and mime--is recommended for school-age children through adults.

Descended from early “black cabinet” puppet theater, modern black-light theater was developed in a large part by the troupe’s founder, Jiri Srnec.

Company lore has it that in the late 1950s, Srnec, who was already experimenting with black light, once watched laundry blowing on a line and imagined that the men’s underwear were fighting over the women’s.

The thought of bringing inanimate objects to life through the medium of black light was soon developed, and today the 35-year-old Black Light Theatre of Prague, with Srnec at the helm, is considered one of the world’s preeminent practitioners.

Black-light artists create magical illusions using props, set pieces and costumes colored with special paints that glow when illuminated by ultraviolet light and performed against a black velvet curtain.

Technicians dressed head to toe in black velvet--a fabric that “eats light,” Feit said, and therefore invisible to the audience--manipulate the painted props, puppets and set pieces, making them come to life on stage--flying, spinning, floating, appearing and disappearing into thin air.

Costumed actors portraying Barrie’s familiar characters interact with the props, retelling through movement and dance the story of a sprite who refused to grow old. (There is no spoken dialogue in this version, but Feit says anyone, even those unfamiliar with the story, can easily keep pace).

Feit is a former professional folk dancer who joined the company in 1991 and now serves as the troupe’s lead actor. Even after five years of touring, he describes his work as “playing.”

“We are playing with the props, with the light,” he said. “There is one moment, especially, that is so magical. [Capt.] Hook is on stage, and behind him there are 14 people dressed in black. . . . They are making Peter Pan fly, Tinker Bell fly, also the children. I think it is one of the best in the show.”

*

The magic does not come easily, said U.S. tour manager Connie Wilkerson.

“I had the opportunity to see them do the show once under work lights, and it was amazing. They’re at a dead run the whole time.

“For example, it can take several people to move a prop through one action. The way the object is moved--the arc of a throw--determines its personality, and that has to be maintained through the hands of three or four people. It’s incredibly precise work.”

Feit, however, has another word for it.

“A lot of the time after the show, the people are coming to the stage and asking, ‘How is it possible they are flying? How is this happening?” he said. “Sometimes, I will try to show them. But others, I will tell them, ‘It’s a secret.’ ”

* What: Black Light Theatre of Prague’s “Peter Pan.”

* When: Friday at 8 p.m.

* Where: Robert B. Moore Theatre, Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa.

* Whereabouts: From the San Diego (405) Freeway, exit at Fairview Road and head south to the college.

* Wherewithal: $8 to $16 (in advance); $10 to $19 (at the door).

* Where to call: (714) 432-5880.