Audiences watching this year’s fall play in the Performing Arts Center [PAC] will notice right away that it is not being produced in a traditional format.

Instead of curtains remaining open for viewers to watch how characters interact, they will be closed to decrease the depth of the stage, theater teacher Christian Penuelas said. Lights will also remain dimmed to allow one source of brightness to project through the curtains so as to create a shadow effect, also known as shadow puppetry.

Originating from China, the term arises from the ancient form of storytelling using cut-out figures held between a source of light and a translucent screen, according to Wikipedia.

“I’ve been wanting to do a show like this for a long time,” Penuelas said of “The Old Man and the Old Moon,” which debuts Thursday, Nov. 7, and runs through the next two days. “It’s really storytelling at its core, which is what we do here; it embodies the Lancer Theatre Company’s statement that we’re storytellers at heart.”

The 2012 Pigpen Theatre Co.-produced script of “Old Man” will also feature singing from some of the 14-member cast, nine of whom will perform as puppeteers, according to the drama department’s Instagram page. As of the week of Sept. 9, none of these puppets have been completed.

Senior Connor Woolley plays the drama’s narrator named Matheson, who tells the audience about an elderly man (played by senior Elliot Park) setting out on a quest to find his missing wife (played by senior Celeste Lopez-Garduno) and discovering new places while confronting his own past along the way, cast members said.

The production also creates a fictional world in which the elderly man’s job is to fill up the moon with gold liquid — an aspect that will be presented through sound and shadow puppetry.

“This show is definitely very different from the other Lancer Theater Company shows I’ve either been in or seen,” said Woolley, who got cast last spring as Pugsley in the musical, “The Addams Family.” “From the shadow puppetry to the live music to the rapid storytelling, this show brings a lot of new challenges that I’m excited to work with.”

Senior Katie Handley was cast as Llewellyn, a young sailor the old man meets and comes to mentor on his journey. Handley said she also wants to take on the challenges of mixing shadow puppetry with live characters in this production.

“We are trying to be more creative in the way we do our sets,” she said. “Especially for this new kind of performance; I’m excited for how the story’s going to unfold.”

Handley said she was inspired by the creative direction the play was taking, using it to shape her own audition, which was held on Thursday, Aug. 29, in the PAC. 

“The script itself was also very open to interpretation, so I’m interested in seeing how it’s going to play out on the actual days of our performances,” she said.

Among the characters, set design and overall vision of the play, another point of focus is the show’s singular progression, Penuelas said. Without an intermission in between, the play marks the department’s first such type of performance that will last 90 minutes.

“The Old Man and the Old Moon’ is told in one kind of seamless flow, and there aren’t any scene changes as it moves from beginning to end,” the instructor said. “I do think this is the best way to convey the narrative.”

Woolley said he shared the theater teacher’s excitement for the show’s artistic creativity.

“I’m definitely most interested in seeing the shadow puppetry when the show finally goes live since it’s a completely new and unique thing that the Lancer Theater Company has never put on stage before,” he said.

Those interested in watching the fall play can purchase tickets through the Sunny Hills Webstore at the end of September; Penuelas said he has yet to decide on a date as of Wednesday, Sept. 11.

Prices will range from $15 for general admission and $12 for students with an Associated Student Body Gold Card, he said.

“We are hoping for a full house,” Penuelas said. “Funny, adventurous and heartwarming — it’s a really beautiful story that I think audiences will engage with really nicely.”