Review: PANDORA: LIFE OUTSIDE THE BOX at Tilt Performance Group
By: Addison McKissack Oct. 30, 2019
Dora is working a dead end job serving crappy coffee, got rejected from the school of her dreams, and has the power to save the world in PANDORA: LIFE OUTSIDE THE BOX at Tilt Performance Company. This show is fun for the all family while packing some important lessons on love, inclusion and believing in yourself in its hour and thirty minute run time.
The closing production in Tilt's fifth season, PANDORA: LIFE OUTSIDE THE BOX, is an original musical specifically created for Tilt and its company by Allen Robertson who wrote the music, lyrics and book for the show. Mr. Robertson worked very closely with the company members, writing music and the show around their favorite styles and ideas. The fact that he was able to take multiple different genres of music and managed to make them feel like a cohesive show is incredibly impressive.
The show itself follows Dora (Claudia Chibib), the descendant of Pandora, who gets a mysterious box that has been passed down through the women in her family. She is given the chance to put the evils that her ancestor released onto the world all of those years ago through a game show hosted by the deliciously evil Zed (Toby Al-Trabulsi). With the help of her wisecracking best friend Theo (Nano Boyle Nagle), Dora faces the embodiments of War, Despair, Death and the -Isms (Racism, Sexism, Able-ism and Class-ism).
This is a show with some really clever lines delivered with impeccable timing by the cast - a personal favorite was Blake Common delivering the lyric "While you were pandering, I was Gerrymandering" as the evil of prejudice in "No Way, No How".
The lighting design by Lisa Scheps was absolutely stunning. Every cue was sharp and emphasized the story and heightened each scene. Jacob Foster's set design was also simple but well thought out to work for the scenes as a whole, while still being easily navigable for actors in wheelchairs and those who were visually impaired.
PANDORA: LIFE OUTSIDE THE BOX at Tilt Performance Company was a fun romp of a show with a lot of heart and a fantastic message that is great for audiences of all ages.
PANDORA: LIFE OUTSIDE THE BOX is running at Ground Floor Theatre from October 25-Novemeber 3rd. For more information go to https://www.tiltperformance.org/.
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