Thayne Jasperson :: Scene Stealing (On All Fours)

One of the earliest hints that "Finding Neverland" is going to be a magical musical evening comes with the appearance of Pothos, the dog whose master is Edwardian playwright J.M. Barrie. Coming onto the stage, jumping over a couch and rolling on a carpet, Porthos is an immediate scene stealer. He also, it turns out, to be a key player to the story line: when Barrie takes Porthos for a walk in Kensington Garden, he brings Barrie into the lives of the four Davies boys and their widow mother.

In the 2004 film version, Porthos is Barrie's hulking companion that accompanies him to the park; to recreate that moment on Loeb stage, where this hugely popular show continues through September 28, the show's creative team (led by director Diane Paulus and choreographer Mia Michaels) cast an actor/dancer -- Thayne Jasperson, who delights in identifiable canine movements from the moment he appears on the stage.

Little costume

He does so with little costume - a skin that suggests a dog and a headpiece to hold his flopping ears; instead through movement Jasperson all but becomes Barrie's beloved companion, one that will find its way into the playwright's endearing children's play "Peter Pan" as Nana.

At first, though, Jasperson didn't realize he was playing a dog. "I actually didn't know. During one my first rehearsals someone said, 'you're going to play a dog.' My first thought was that I'd be wearing a full head-to-toe dog suit, and I wasn't sure I wanted that. But as we started to talk about it, I started to love it and thought it really cool. They said they wanted to so with this more stripped-down style, I began to really love it. It's a challenge as an actor to embrace my animal side. If I had a life before this life, I was definitely a dog. It feels so natural. I've always had a dog and always been a dog person. They have a human sense to them - people connect with them and feel part of the family, so it's been great to embrace that."

To achieve Porthos' playful nature, Jasperson did a crash course in studying dogs he saw in Cambridge during the show's two-month rehearsal process. "Every time I see dogs I just I tend to look at them and study them. I try to incorporate different things that they do every night. And it's been so much fun. I love it."

Not easy

Not that it's easy. "At the same time, it is really pretty difficult because I'm on fours the whole time. My joints, my wrists and my elbows feel it the next day because humans aren't meant to be like that. There's a moment in the Adventure sequence when I've been on stage pretty much nonstop. I'm running around and dancing and running around; there's a moment when I get to lie down and as I'm laying there, I still keep my tongue out as a dog and I just pant and the sweat is coming out of my face."

Watching the ease and fluidity of Jasperson's movement it would be easy to think that he's been dancing all his life. But dance came late to the 34-year old actor. Growing up in Wyoming, Jasperson started dancing in second grade, but was so ridiculed by his friends that he stopped. "So in third grade, I quit and it was one of my biggest regrets. I remember watching school plays and musicals and wanting to be an actor, wanting to be a dancer, wanting to be a singer. And I wouldn't do it because of peer pressure, and I hated that."

It wasn't until after high school that he pursued dancing. "I started dance after high school because I wasn't going to let anybody tell me what was cool and what wasn't. Luckily in a short amount of time, I really improved and progressed because I was so passionate. I did 'High School Musical' - that was the first big thing I got to do. Then I did 'So You Think You Can Dance.' Now the same people that used to make fun of me contact me on Twitter and say that this is so cool, and I respond, 'Yeh, remember when you were a jerk about me being a dancer? So, I like to use my experience to encourage young actors, because it's tough and everyone goes through it. There is always that peer pressure, but you have to go for what you love. I started late, but, luckily, I worked non-stop because I knew this is what I wanted to do and nothing was going to stop me."

Little country boy

It was his experiences on "So You Think You Can Dance" that brought him into contact with 'Neverland's" choreographer Mia Michaels, who was a judge on the show. Though he didn't make it to the finals, it was a great learning experience. "It was challenging because I didn't get to show a lot of my own style of dance and my strength as a dancer. I loved the experience because I got to work with so many amazing people and getting to know how to work in front of a camera. And for me to leave my little country boy lifestyle and decide to go out into the world a little more."

When he auditioned for "Finding Neverland," he didn't have any idea that Michaels was involved in the show. "I didn't know she was choreographing the show until I came into the room. And when I saw her, I thought, 'Great. This is totally my style. This is kind of dancing I get excited about.'"

Once rehearsals began, he found equal rapport with director Diane Paulus, the ART's artistic director who has turned the Cambridge theater into a formidable force in American theater. "Diane and Mia give me so much freedom with Porthos - to do things and try things. It's really liberating. There are things in the show that I just started to do. There's a moment in the show when I'm playing with a stuffed animal and I toss it at the musical director. I came up with that during a rehearsal and Diane loved it. She said it was spontaneous and cool."

Loves 'Peter Pan'

Paulus also allowed Jasperson to move away from a more formal dog suit into a cottony skin with spots. "Diane wanted to see my body because she feels that I move like a dog with posture and body movements that's very expressive of my feelings of my dog. It's now just a cotton long sleeve shirt and pants and a tail. We've incorporated a hat because during rehearsals I wore a backward baseball cap and Diane loved that and wanted to keep it.

"They feel we don't have to hide me behind a dog suit because I've dove into the body movement and the way a dog is. I get to feel more expressive than hiding behind a dog suit."

"Finding Neverland" also finds Jasperson working again with actor Jeremy Jordan, who plays Barrie. They worked together on the hit Disney musical "Newsies" on Broadway. Johnson was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance, while Jasperson was nominated for the prestigious Astaire Award.

"That nomination was cool for me because I didn't know it existed before that. And when I was nominated I thought it was awesome that I was being recognized as someone with talent in the ensemble. I wish there were more ways ensemble people were recognized because they work really hard. I watch everyone when I go to a show and watching every person there are sometimes when you see someone that nails it and you wish there was some recognition of that."

As for working with Jordan, playing master and dog has made them closer." We've become even closer because I'm his dog and dogs are man's best friend. We're like a dog and its owner. Our relationship is very playful and have fun with each other."

And, not surprisingly, Jasperson feels a bond with the themes of "Peter Pan."

"I love the idea of being Peter Pan because he's a boy that never grew up, and I feel I like I relate so much to that. And who wouldn't want to fly and live in Neverland? For me it comes from that imaginative, childish place of wanting to be a kid all the time. Wanting to have fun in life and not take everything so seriously. I know you have to as an adult, but I relate to this guy who is still a kid. I love watching cartoons on Saturday morning and eat cereal and skateboard. I definitely like that sense of adventure."

Today that sense of adventure can be seen on the streets of Cambridge where Jasperson avidly skateboards. "I skateboard everywhere. I feel it's attached to my hip. If it's not raining or snowing, I'm on my skateboard."

"Finding Neverland" continues through September 28, 2014 at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA. For more information, visit the American Repertory Theater website.