After 6 weeks and 47 performances, nearly
1,000 students and an audience of 3,500 theatregoers saw 1984
and ANIMAL FARM. The Orwell Project closed at the Connelly
Theater on March 14, 2004.  inves-tigated the prickly issue of the
balance of freedom versus control in a civil society, but each
production approached the problem from a different angle.
While
presented audiences with a stark and unforgiving portrait of a
society burned clean of sentiment and human feeling by
paranoia and technology, approached the problem from the opposite side - with
the childlike wonder and grotesquerie of a fairy
tale.  Puppets and music proved to
be wonderful vehicles for the message of George Orwell's
enchanting barnyard fable. In the capable hands, voices and
bodies of our talented ensemble, the ingenious puppet designs
of Emily DeCola and Eric Wright perfectly captured the naïve
sincerity of the ill-fated animals, and Richard Peaslee's
catchy music eloquently evoked the sentimentality and jingoism
of a community willfully blind to the crimes of its elected
leaders. We are eager to share Synapse's production of
ANIMAL FARM with a larger audience. The story is full of humor
and life, and it alerts us to the risks inherent in not
participating in our democratic society. ANIMAL FARM is read
by young people in schools all over America. We hope to have
the opportunity to bring these earnest and lovable characters
to life for thousands of young minds, and to get people
talking about the central themes of this powerful story and
its relevance to America today.
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Wednesday, June 16th