Boston Conservatory at Berklee musical theater senior Jack Villhard directs Matthew Dunster’s stage adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984.
Winston Smith rewrites history for the Ministry of Truth, but when he's handed a note that says simply “I love you” by a woman he hardly knows, he decides to risk everything in search for the real truth. In a world where cheap entertainment keeps the proles ignorant but content, where a war without end is always fought, and where the government is always watching, can Winston possibly hold onto to what he feels inside? Or will he renounce everything, accept the party's reality, and learn to love Big Brother?
Audience Advisory: This show contains strobe lights, sexual intimacy, gunshots, and graphic depictions of violence, sexual assault, and torture (including musophobia and cleithrophobia).
Program Information
Welcome
Welcome all! On behalf of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee student directors, we'd like to thank you for joining us this evening. Directing these shows has been an amazing learning experience for all of us and we truly couldn't do this without your support. We would like to thank the Conservatory for giving us this platform to present work outside of the musical theater repertoire that is unique to each of our individual backgrounds. Please enjoy!
—Student directors
Director's Note
George Orwell's 1984, adapted for the stage by Matthew Dunster, takes the perpetual ideology of the novel and channels it into a beautiful heart- and gut-wrenching live theatrical experience. The narrative focuses on how religion, government, and other patriarchal organizations use the suppression of human nature as a tool to obtain power, controlling minds in ways that are seemingly unalterable.
Organizations like these prey on the minds of children during their developmental stages and breed subserviently monstrous adults aimed at preserving the upper class. In this play, we see how change is rooted in art—how the message needs to simply be made loud enough for all to hear and spread.
This play shouts the message. It screams the message. The play is hard for some to watch. It forces those who've taken part in this system to self-reflect and helps those who’ve been damaged by the system find catharsis and a new directive. It demonstrates how change lies in the masses rising against a common enemy, and as Winston Smith proclaims: “If there’s hope it lies in the Proles. If there’s hope it lies in the Proles. If there’s hope it lies in the Proles.”
What stops them from uprising is fear—fear of starvation, fear of imprisonment, fear of torcher; fears that are felt today. 1984 shows how breaking expectations now could be met with a more severe punishment down the road, and how now is the time to stand together before it's too late.
—Jack Villhard, 1984 director
Cast
WINSTON SMITH – Gabe Seplow
OBRIEN / PUB BARTENDER – Anna Kate Gossett
JULIA – Nina Osso
MRS PARSON'S / TELESCREEN / KATHERINE – Nadia Vito
SYME / 2ND PROLE – Owen Bird
PARSONS / 3RD PROLE – Bella Donneruno
OLD PROLE / GOLDSTIEN – Caetano de Sa
CHARRINGTON – Shin Kim
MARTIN / BUMSTEAD / PARSON'S SON / 4TH PROLE / WILSHER – Brendan Sheehan
MOTHER / STARVING WOMAN / PARSON'S DAUGHTER / 1ST PROLE / PAINTED FACED PROSTITUTE – Samantha Hallenberg
Orchestra
PIANO
Max Polsky*
*Berklee School of Music student
Production Credits
CREATIVE TEAM:
Director – Jack Villhard
Stage Manager – Edsel Goyo
Lighting Design – Julia Kelly
Sound Design – Max Polsky
Prop Design – Ethan Bopp
Movement Choreographers – Luccia Taylor, Kanella Benevides
PRODUCTION STAFF:
Technical Director – Audrey Kimball
Intimacy Director and Fight Coordinator – Angela Jepson
Prop Supervisor – Larry Dembski
Directing Professor – Chris Webb
CONCERT SERVICES STAFF:
Senior Manager of Concert Services – Luis Herrera
Concert Production Coordinator – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Senior Manager of Performance Technology – Wes Fowler
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov
Special Thanks
- Peter and Julie Villhard
- Scotty Villlhard
- Emma Grace Reinagel
- Chris and Jess Webb
- Paul and Laurie Pagano
- Stephanie and Martin Fox
- Igor Golyak
- Myles Polito, for your inspiration and influence on this performance
Boston Conservatory thanks audience members for viewing this program information online. This paperless program saved 110 sheets of paper, 12 gallons of water, and 10 pounds of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions.
