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CONTACT: Steven Box, Marketing Director
937-461-3823 x3112
steven@humanracetheatre.org

THE MUSE MACHINE AND THE HUMAN RACE THEATRE COMPANY GIVE VOICE TO ANIMAL FARM WITH THE 2004 DAYTON POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY FOUNDATION IN-SCHOOL TOUR 

(Dayton, OH) – OCTOBER 18 — The Muse Machine and The Human Race kick off their 2004 In-School Tour show with an adaptation of George Orwell’s satiric novel Animal Farm. The production is a 40-minute long performance, adapted by director and Human Race resident artist Scott Stoney, and told in the style of readers’ theatre with limited props and suggestive costumes. Animal Farm will be presented at middle and high schools throughout the Greater Dayton area from October 25 to November 19. The Dayton Power and Light Company Foundation has given its generous support to become the tour’s sponsor.

Animal Farm is part of the Theatre in Context program. Designed to tap into the curriculum of local school systems, Theatre in Context is a project between The Muse Machine and The Human Race Theatre Company. The goal is to create a tie between an In-School performance experience and events in the regular programming designed for adult audiences, providing material and training for teachers to incorporate these experiences into classroom activities. This year’s project combines an In-School performance of Animal Farm with the public performance of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, presented by The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and The Human Race.

The performance of Animal Farm covers the first half of the novel. It is told from the viewpoint of Snowball, the pig who is exiled from the farm by Napoleon (representing Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin respectively) and challenges the student audience to finish the story. As an allegory of the establishment and disintegration of socialism in the USSR, Animal Farm assists the students in understanding how a government can allow the use of "insanity" as a sentence for "political activism".

The cast of Animal Farm includes: Abeku Hayes, Annie Pesch, Natasha Randall, Chris Shea and Aaron Vega. Natasha has performed in the past In-School tour of Antigone, and The Human Race productions of Death of a Salesman and The Odd Couple. Aaron is currently staring in The Human Race’s world premiere musical Was.

Bookings are still available for local middle and high schools, and can be made by contacting Theresa Abshear at 937-461-3823, ext. 3113.

For more information on Animal Farm, please contact Marsha Hanna at 937-461-3823, ext. 3111.

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Founded in 1986, The Human Race Theatre Company moved to the Metropolitan Arts Center in 1991, taking up residence at The Loft, a 219-seat theatre. In addition to the Humana Loft Series 1, produced in collaboration with the Victoria Theatre Association, The Human Race produces the Humana Loft Series 2, the Musical Theatre Workshop series and special event programming. The Human Race, under the direction of Artistic Director Marsha Hanna and Executive Director Kevin Moore, also maintains educational outreach programs for children six to sixteen, guest artist and artist residencies in area schools, The Muse Machine In-School Tour, Youth Summer Stock and The Human Race Conservatory.