Product reviews for Pandora and the Sickle Moon

My students really enjoyed performing this play, and it brought us to the semi-final round of our state drama festival, with our ensemble of Evils and costume designs winning awards both rounds and our Pandora, Vol, and Skadaas also taking home acting awards.

I chose it because there was a lot of opportunity for design regarding costumes, set, and sound, as well as the fact that it would stretch our actors with movement (the Evils) and Pantomime (Brono being a silent character). There are also several substantial roles for female actors and an infinitely expandable ensemble which is something I always look for.

We used masks for the Evils, and did a lot of mask/movement work in rehearsals. We also got our district percussion teacher to come to a rehearsal and play the djembe to underscore moments of evil, which we then folded into our sound design.

The characters are somewhat archetypal and the plot simple, but we leaned into that as a Greek tragedy. As with any play, there are discoveries and subtext to be explored to make the world and characters more rounded.