This past week, Santa Fe Christian opened their theater season with The Old Man and The Old Moon—a show dedicated to restoring a sense of child-like imagination, even if it’s just for a couple of hours.

“This show is truly what a bedtime story should sound, feel and look like,” said director Matt Corsaro. “It is everything intimate, nostalgic, and imaginative”

The Old Man and The Old Moon follows the adventure of an old couple— The Old Man, who has been responsible for ensuring the moon is full for as long as he can remember, and his wife, the Old Woman. Upon hearing a nostalgic and alluring melody, the Old Woman sets off in pursuit of memories from the past, leaving the Old Man to wrestle with the biggest decision of his life—stick to his post and refill the moon each night, or go after his wife and face the consequences of abandoning his duty. As the Old Man makes his decision, he embarks on a journey filled with pirates, ghosts, and a promise.

“The Old Man and The Old Moon is such a beautiful show full of sweet things of love, friendship, adventure and staying true to who you are,” said Chloe Rayners, a senior at SFC who plays the role of Llewellyn.

Beyond the plot, SFC spins its own kind of magic, transforming minimal set pieces into imaginative settings, sourcing their costumes from home, and using a simple concept such as shadow puppets to illustrate how the story unfolds.

Yet, as minimal as the technical concepts are, the process behind every creative aspect is more thoughtful than we think. The shadow puppets seen throughout the show were designed by the talented hand of SFC senior, Eden Stambaugh.

“It was definitely a process,” said Stambaugh. “I used the iPad app ProCreate to design and draw out the puppets based on what Mr Corsaro needed. Then, I converted the files to vector format and sent them off to a laser printing company where they cut the puppets into condensed cardboard for stability. Some puppets had to be designed with moving parts, such as the sharks and the tuna. I designed them in chunks then once they were cut, I assembled them with plastic screws so they could move as needed.”

As children, we made our own kind of magic out of the mundane. We didn’t need elaborate play sets- we could build a pillow fort to be our very own pirate ship. Just like the shadow puppets seen throughout SFC’s rendition of The Old Man and The Old Moon, we are presented with a choice each day: to see the hand holding the puppet, or to see everything the puppet can be.

Read here in the Del Mar Times.