As the Buchanan Black Box Players stage Animal Farm – The Musical this week, Bob Edwards, the director, discussed some of the challenges he and the Players faced at an increasing intensity during the past few weeks.
The 22nd annual dinner theatre is being held Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Buchanan Community Theatre.
“It is a departure from our usual comedy productions - it is a parody of a totalitarian state, but not a farce - definitely more serious than our usual fare,” said Edwards.
It has also been noted that because the great majority of parts are animals, it creates problems for costuming and movement on stage.
Another challenge is that because most of the cast has to be on stage for almost the whole performance, it becomes “a test of stamina and concentration” and makes it very difficult for cueing,” he said.
Edwards noted that a few parts are “very heavy on lines to be learned” and demanded a lot of rehearsal time.
The stage adaptation of the George Orwell book is a musical, but the Players decided against including all the songs. Only one of the songs is a familiar melody, said Edwards.
“There is definitely a message in the play, and we hope the audiences will enjoy this different way of presenting it,” he said. “Hopefully, many will recognize Animal Farm as a story they read in high school, and that will add to their enjoyment.”
Despite the challenges, Edwards said the group looked forward to meeting those challenges and “having a different experience ourselves.”
Roof fundraising
The Black Box Players organization has always been a strong supporter of the Buchanan Community Centre, even though it is only one of the organizations using the facility, said Morley Leung, president of the committee managing the Centre. The Village of Buchanan is the actual owner of the facility.
Each year the BBBP has given an average of $3,000 which goes towards the operations and maintenance of the facility, but this year the group has pledged a lot more because of major repair projects underway, Leung said. The village just covered an approximate $20,000 bill to rebuild the heating system and for the last two years, the emphasis has been on raising the money to cover an estimated $42,000 to completely redo the flat roof. The original school portion of the building was constructed in 1954.
The management group is very grateful to the community at large for the many private and business-related donations to this project, said Leung. Since the building is owned by the village, a grant has also been received to assist with the project cost.
Leung said he expects that the village will put the project to tended this summer.
