Animal Farm by George Orwell, Adapted by Nelson Bond
Director’s Notes
“Speaking a story can be the act of letting in light.”
-Anne Bogart What’s the Story: Essays about art, theatre, and storytelling
I have been dreading directing Animal Farm since we first announced it as part of our season. Because I believe it to be a play, a story, with no hope. “No hope” is not my wheelhouse. I love to find magic in the mundane, joy in the everyday, beauty in sorrow.
That’s what I do. That’s who I am.
I am not disillusionment and authoritarian nightmares.
But disillusionment and authoritarian nightmares was my assignment for the fall, so I girded my loins, clenched my jaw, and began this journey in a place of complete and utter denial. I threw everything, but the kitchen sink at this play to make me not hate it. To make it feel like mine. “I need a rockabilly band!” “I think we need cheerleader lifts!” “A fog machine!” Roller skates and a fireman’s pole were mentioned at one point. And I was blessed with a production team and company of student actors who simply said yes.
And they not only said yes to every crazy idea I brought into the room, they said yes where I had been afraid to say yes. They said yes to the actual story. We talked about Socialism vs. Communism. And Stalin. We watched Soviet propaganda films. We talked the Great Purge and work camps and piles of corpses. And then they said yes to really exploring what it means to be desperate. What it means to dream of a better life. What it means to fight. What it means to be afraid. What happens when power corrupts. When dreams are distorted. When people stay silent. I watched them enter these explorations bravely and honestly. And through their bravery, by watching these students, I learned to tell the story that I had been afraid of telling.
And here I found my hope. We’re letting in light. We’re telling this story and letting in light.
I hope you enjoy the show.
-spj
Director’s Notes
“Speaking a story can be the act of letting in light.”
-Anne Bogart What’s the Story: Essays about art, theatre, and storytelling
I have been dreading directing Animal Farm since we first announced it as part of our season. Because I believe it to be a play, a story, with no hope. “No hope” is not my wheelhouse. I love to find magic in the mundane, joy in the everyday, beauty in sorrow.
That’s what I do. That’s who I am.
I am not disillusionment and authoritarian nightmares.
But disillusionment and authoritarian nightmares was my assignment for the fall, so I girded my loins, clenched my jaw, and began this journey in a place of complete and utter denial. I threw everything, but the kitchen sink at this play to make me not hate it. To make it feel like mine. “I need a rockabilly band!” “I think we need cheerleader lifts!” “A fog machine!” Roller skates and a fireman’s pole were mentioned at one point. And I was blessed with a production team and company of student actors who simply said yes.
And they not only said yes to every crazy idea I brought into the room, they said yes where I had been afraid to say yes. They said yes to the actual story. We talked about Socialism vs. Communism. And Stalin. We watched Soviet propaganda films. We talked the Great Purge and work camps and piles of corpses. And then they said yes to really exploring what it means to be desperate. What it means to dream of a better life. What it means to fight. What it means to be afraid. What happens when power corrupts. When dreams are distorted. When people stay silent. I watched them enter these explorations bravely and honestly. And through their bravery, by watching these students, I learned to tell the story that I had been afraid of telling.
And here I found my hope. We’re letting in light. We’re telling this story and letting in light.
I hope you enjoy the show.
-spj
Set & Property Design by Ivy Thomas
Costume Design by Amanda Vander Byl
Lighting Design by Shelbi Arndt
Sound Design by Grover Hollway
Music Direction by Thew Elliott
Costume Design by Amanda Vander Byl
Lighting Design by Shelbi Arndt
Sound Design by Grover Hollway
Music Direction by Thew Elliott