Muse opens 'Pandora's Box' in Intime

When Pandora's box opened in ancient myth, evil flew out into the world. But "Pandora's Box," currently playing at Theatre~Intime, releases song, dance and entertainment into the Princeton air.

"Pandora's Box," an eclectic selection of performance acts, is the 2001 production by Muse. This student group, formed last year by Amanda Brandes '02 and Liriel Higa '02, provides a venue for students whose unique talents do not fit into the strict confines of the traditional dance, theater and singing groups.

Last year, Muse produced a performing arts cabaret at Chancellor Green. This year, the show is playing at Theatre~Intime for two nights — last night and tonight. Both Higa and Brandes and the "Pandora's Box" performers are enthusiastic about this change. Higa says that they "will miss the ambiance of Chancellor Green," but they are looking forward to the comparatively high tech equipment available for use in an actual theater.

Set designers Shoshanah Haberman '02 and Dorina Amendola '02 are working with Higa and Brandes to create a design for the stage that will bring some of the coziness of Chancellor Green into Theatre~Intime. "We're trying to create some sort of atmosphere where there's more connection between the audience and the performers," Brandes said. "We're using the aisles and the audience seating and the sides of the stage" as performance spaces.

There are additional benefits to performing at Theatre~Intime. Adam Ruben '01, who was featured in last year's show and is performing again this year, echoed the opinions of many "Pandora's Box" participants when he said, "Performing at the newly renovated Intime may help lend the performance an air of legitimacy." And this "air of legitimacy" is important for a fledgling student group.

The structure for "Pandora's Box" differed from that employed in last year's performance. Previously, performers were recruited using e-mails sent to students involved in the arts. In addition, Higa and Brandes "discovered" people on campus and asked them to participate.

This year, both Brandes and Higa were away first semester, Brandes in London and Higa in Hong Kong. Thus, they relied heavily on those on campus — Muse treasurer Bridget Nolan '02 and last year's performers — to find and encourage new people to become involved with Muse.

Nolan also took on the administrative responsibilities. "I got to do all sorts of fun things," she said. "Like collect the application forms from potential performers, run all the West College errands and meet with the cast members as their pieces progressed throughout the semester."

Despite having to rely on word of mouth to find new performers, Higa, Brandes and the rest of the Muse group have put together an impressive variety of acts – some return performances from last year, and some new faces. Coordinating rehearsals for this diverse group was less difficult than one might expect, in large part because the performers in "Pandora's Box" rehearsed mostly in their own time, coming together just before the show opened to fit everything together.

Because of this, Brandes said that organizing the show is "an interesting position to be in."

"Liriel and I try not to be over people's shoulders," she said. They saw the acts once, a few weeks ago, to ensure that everything was going well, and had not seen them again until this week.

As a performer, Ruben also drew attention to this low key production approach. "No matter how coordinated the show looks," he said, "the fact remains that most of the performers have not seen it until the night of."

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Some of the drawbacks of this method became evident last year. One of the main problems was that the number of acts, and their lengths, made the show rather long. Brandes stressed that it will be shorter this year. In addition, she said they would be "a bit more organized."

"Last year came off really well," she said, "but that was basically fate and luck and really great performers." This year, fate, luck and talent will combine with organization to create an even better show.

A wide range of acts are appearing in "Pandora's Box." Some perform individually, but there are also a number of artistic collaborations — something which Brandes and Higa try to encourage. The acts range from mimes to fencers, Irish dancers to rhythmic gymnasts. There will also be singers, video art, live music and original monologues. This variety is part of what makes the Muse experience unique.

"Muse renews my excitement about the arts in general while also opening my eyes to aspects of it that I haven't encountered before," Nolan said. "I know it sounds cheesy, but I do think that the overall Muse experience leaves you with a renewed appreciation for the unique situation we have here at Princeton, with so many talented and gifted people around all the time."

And this is true not just for performers, but for audience members as well. Muse opens "Pandora's Box" tonight and lets the wonders of the artistic world out into the open.