Littlest Student : 6-Year-Old’s Role in ‘Peter Pan’ Makes Him a College Boy for the Summer at Saddleback

College is a time of breaking away, but not for Saddleback College student Benjamin Froke.

Benjamin’s mother accompanies him to the Mission Viejo campus for his daily summer classes. She carries his books and sits outside classrooms waiting for him.

Benjamin said he doesn’t mind the mothering. He is only 6 years old. “I’m going to be in the first grade next year,” Benjamin said.

He has an IQ of 132 (100 is average), but that’s not the reason Benjamin is enrolled in four college-credit courses at the community college this summer. In May, he auditioned for a role in the college’s forthcoming production of “Peter Pan.”

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When he was selected to play one of the Lost Boys in the play, his parents, Jeffrey and Martha Froke, discovered a little-known college policy: Non-professional actors in Saddleback plays must be students. (Two professional actors will be in “Peter Pan.”)

“We got enrollment material in the mail from the college,” Jeffrey Froke said. “There was even information about financial help being available if needed.”

Community college is inexpensive, so the cost was not a factor for the Frokes, who live on a ranch in south Orange County. What initially gave them pause was that their boy, who had just graduated from kindergarten, would be taking college-credit courses.

“I have a son in college, and I haven’t completed all my college myself,” joked Jeffrey Froke, who is completing his Ph.D. work at UCLA.

Benjamin is working toward four credits. He gets one credit for being in the play itself, which requires rehearsals every weekday until the opening on July 18, and he gets one credit each for individualized voice and dancing lessons by college instructors who are helping in the play’s production.

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Finally, he is taking a one-credit course titled “Literature to Performance,” in which students analyze “Peter Pan” and its author, James M. Barrie.

“Cast members, including Benjamin, learn about Barrie--what was his life about,” said Victoria Tucker, a drama professor at Saddleback. “We do it visually, with a lot of pictures. Even kids as young as Benjamin can understand the material. We show them pictures of Barrie as a little boy, and we explain that Barrie entertained his mother with stories and fairy tales. He never really grew up, and he related better to children. Kids can relate to that.”

Tucker teaches the cast in various rooms around Saddleback’s McKinney Theatre, where rehearsals are held. Last week, she used a makeup room as she gave individualized instruction to Benjamin.

“He’s really wonderful” Tucker said. “He’s a little shy in class, but he’s darling on stage. You should see him on stage! He’s quite good.”

Benjamin, with a wide grin, said he liked Tucker. “She’s neat,” he said. “I don’t get bored.”

Benjamin has impish green eyes and blonde hair cut in bangs for his stage role. He is tall for his age and has long, swimmer’s legs. In fact, he’s on the Coto de Caza swim team. He also plays soccer and T-ball baseball.

Jeffrey Froke said his son has “a lot of interests. He plays the piano. And he’s known bird calls out on the ranch ever since he was 3.”

The Frokes live on Starr Ranch, a 3,900-acre preserve owned by the National Audubon Society and situated near the Coto de Caza area of south Orange County. Jefferey Froke, 34, is manager of the society’s landholdings in the western United States. Martha Froke is a teacher in the Capistrano Unified School District.

“We worried somewhat about Ben growing up out on the ranch, miles away from the nearest neighbor,” Jeffrey Froke said. “But he seems to love it. He spends a lot of time with me, and I like to talk to him.”

Try New Things

Froke said Benjamin likes to try new things, including acting. “We were driving in our car a couple of months ago. There was an announcement on the car radio about Saddleback College’s going to have ‘Peter Pan.’ We asked Ben if he’d like to go,” Froke said. “He responded, ‘I want to be in that play.’ So we inquired about how he could audition.”

Afterward, Martha Froke said, “It was a little strange seeing him standing in that registration line with all the big college kids.”

Like Benjamin, the other children in the “Peter Pan” cast are enrolled for college credit. Benjamin, however, is the youngest.

“This is a grand experience for him,” his mother said. “And he’ll be able to use the college credit when he actually enters college full time later on.”