Theater’s varsity company will perform their fall show “The Old Man and the Old Moon” in the black box theatre Sep. 18-20 at 7 p.m., and 2 p.m. Sunday Sep. 21.The show is classified as a folklore comedy.
“[The genre] is why when people see [the show,] they’re going to feel that it’s different,” head director Chelsey Thornburg said. “It is not classified as a farce, and we’re used to farces instead of other styles of comedy.”
“The Old Man and the Old Moon” is a “play with music,” meaning that the actors will sing and play instruments during the show. This will be accomplished using a combination of tracks and live instruments, including a piano and accordion – both played by students.
“[The six] songs are going to be actors singing,” Thornburg said. “[For] the big numbers we are going to use tracks. We don’t have as many people in the pit [as musical]. We’re going to use a track for the three big numbers, the opening number, [Song from the Stone]; ‘Bremen,’ which is at the end; and ‘Just Like the Sea,’ which is right before intermission.”
The show is designed to be primarily made of found objects, with sheets acting as costumes and wooden planks acting as the set. It relies on the audience’s imagination rather than visual cues. Thornburg said the set is more similar to “The Diviners” than “Noises Off.”
“We have to make everything less realistic,” stage manager Clarissa Garza said. “Everything has to be a little more abstract, you have to think harder to make it look less. You have to take a step back and think [like] a little kid using their imagination.”
With the auditorium’s renovation, the timeline has been pushed up to allow for the musical to take place in the black box. This means that the show is earlier in the year than past fall shows, giving the actors and technicians less time to work on the show.
“[It’s] definitely felt a lot more rushed than ‘Noises Off,’” junior Ronit Gollapudi said. “The script is also longer than ‘Noises Off’ so it’s a combination of those [reasons]. Having a shorter time throughout rehearsals has definitely been hard, but everyone’s locked in this year, I feel like it’s worked fine.”
Tickets are being sold for $10 online on the Hebron Theater website and $5 at lunch for students and faculty.
“There’s something beautiful about the truth of imagination,” Thornburg said. “The magic that can happen by wrapping a sheet around your neck and all of a sudden you’re a superhero[…] I hope the audience comes to see the show and allows a sheet to be whatever we need it to be.”
