In a recent production of *Peter Pan* staged amid ongoing challenges in Israel, actors and directors alike highlight the therapeutic role of theatre in times of hardship. Meshi Kleinstein, who portrays Wendy Darling, described the experience as a source of emotional healing for both performers and audiences.

Kleinstein, an actress accustomed to working through periods of conflict, reflected on the play's significance during difficult times. She characterized her role as invoking a bittersweet longing for peace and respite—a brief pause from the prevailing difficulties. “It feels like longing for something good and sweet that we’re all yearning for, especially in the last few years, a moment to put everything on pause,” she explained.

For Kleinstein, the musical offers a powerful space where the audience can momentarily escape into the story of Peter Pan, the boy who refuses to grow up. She emphasized the responsibility artists carry in providing relief through their craft, suggesting that even fleeting moments of joy and breath away from pain are vital. “Being an artist became much more of a mission than what I used to think,” she said. “You have to make people, even if only for a moment, breathe, to feel something that isn’t an enormous pain.”

This perspective was echoed by the production’s director, Hanoch Rosen, who first embodied the role of Peter Pan nearly four decades ago. Returning in a directing capacity, Rosen sought to revive the sense of childhood possibility and wonder that the play symbolizes. “Even if in the end, we all grow up,” he noted, “every person deserves to feel that childhood magic again.”

The ongoing staging of *Peter Pan* in Israel thus serves not only as entertainment but as a form of cultural resilience, providing audiences a chance to reconnect with feelings of hope and innocence amid complex realities. As the production invites viewers to let their minds “fly along with the boy who never wanted to grow up,” it underscores the enduring role of the arts in fostering communal healing and emotional restoration.