ANIMAL FARM Will Open New Rep on Tour's Tenth Season, Runs Thru 12/4

New Rep On Tour will open its tenth season with George Orwell's Animal Farm.  The Tour will travel to 20 Boston area schools and reach over 8,000 students. 
 
"I am thrilled to be bringing live professional theatre into classrooms with the Tour," states Kate Warner, Artistic Director for New Rep.  "New Rep On Tour is a wonderful program that exposes children to theatre, some for the very first time."
 
Ms. Warner continues, "I am so pleased with the talented cast we assembled for this production, and I know they will capture the magnitude of George Orwell's Animal Farm."
 
The animals on Manor Farm revolt against their human masters to take control of The Farm and their own fate in order to create a society where "the community" is supreme and individual existence is forsaken to serve the greater good.  George Orwell's biting satire about the rise of Communism shows the Great Russian Experiment as an idealist's dream converted by realists into a nightmare.
 
New Rep On Tour brings high quality professional productions of relevant plays from the dramatic and literary canon to area schools, in accordance with DOE Curriculum frameworks, and onto the stages of local High Schools and Middle Schools in special 90-minute adaptations.  Following each performance, the artists lead a talkback session, allowing students to ask questions and discuss the important topics of the play.  Teachers have come to rely on the Tour as an annual event in their schools, and student testimonials describe the widespread enthusiasm for these productions.
 
The Tour is funded by a grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. New Rep and Bank of America have a long history of partnership. "We are eager and excited to continue supporting New Rep's wonderful education programs. We support the arts in an effort to bring economic and cultural opportunities to communities nationwide, and are thrilled to help New Rep bring this important program to thousands of children in Greater Boston," said Robert E. Gallery, president, Bank of America Massachusetts.
 
New Repertory Theatre can offer its vital programming thanks to the additional generosity of individuals and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Esther B. Kahn Foundation, Roy A. Hunt Foundation, The Fuller Foundation, Watertown Harvard / Watertown O'Neill Community Enrichment Fund, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the local cultural councils Billerica, Lawrence, Randolph, Reading, Sharon and Wayland.
 
Cheo Bourne (Boxer) currently lives and works in Boston, where roles include Elvis Wasowski in Jerry Springer The Opera (SpeakEasy); Kit Kat Boy in Cabaret, Crooks/Slim in Of Mice and Men, and Boxer in Animal Farm (New Rep); and Doctor Pinch in The Comedy of Errors and Orlando in Shakespeare on Love (Commonwealth Shakespeare and Company). He has studied acting at Connecticut College and the British American Drama Academy. Favorite school credits include
Orpheus in Polaroid Stories, Bobby in Company, and Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream (BADA). He also played Coalhouse Walker Jr. in Ragtime at the Regis College Theatre. In the coming year, Cheo will play Ugly in Honk at Wheelock Family Theater and Nanki-Poo in Hot Mikado at New Rep.

Danny Bryck (Benjamin, Snowball) is excited to make his New Rep debut with Animal Farm. He is also currently performing the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch with Blue Spruce Theatre Company. New York credits include By Popular Demand (New Perspectives Theatre Company) and Pope Joan at New World Stages. Regional credits include The Corn is Green and Rock 'n' Roll (Huntington Theatre Company); The Winter's Tale (Majestic Theatre); and The Magic Flute
(Commonwealth Opera). Danny studied theatre at Boston University, where credits included A Number, Lizzie Stranton, Call of the Wild, Under Milk Wood, and Song of Miriam at KC/ACTF. He also studied in London at LAMDA where he performed in Romeo and Juliet and The Way of the World. Danny has acted in a handful of independent films in Massachusetts and is a member of ImprovBoston. He is also a writer, director, dialect coach, teacher, and musician.

?Annie Kerins (Clover, Muriel, Moses) is happy to be joining the cast of New Rep On Tour's Animal Farm.  Also with New Rep:  Ensemble/2 Ladies, Cabaret 1st National:  If You Give a Pig a Pancake (Theatreworks, USA).  Regional: Mayzie in Seussical, the Musical and Columbia in The Rocky Horror Show (Foothills Theatre); Anne in The Diary of Anne Frank (WCLO); Libby in I Ought to Be in Pictures (StageOne Productions); Lilly in The Giver (East Coast Tour); Singin' in the Rain (Reagle Players); and American Twistory (Comcast Theatre).  She'll be originating the role of Sugar this spring in the Off Broadway premiere of Looking for Billy Haines (small or LARGE Productions).  When she is not onstage, Annie teaches theatre, voice, and dance at Jo Ann Warren Studio in Worcester, MA. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from The Hartt School and is a proud member of AEA.

Scott Sweatt (Napoleon, Major) is grateful for the opportunity to be working with New Rep On Tour again, having appeared last year in Othello and Of Mice and Men, and also to have the chance to get in touch with his farm boy heritage. Currently he is working with Whistler in the Dark on their production of In on It and later this season will be back at New Rep as Jules in the New England premier of boom. Previous Boston credits include: Pablo Picasso in Steve Martin's Picasso at the
Lapin Agile (New Rep), Cantaloupe Girlfriend and The Dogsitter (SLAMBoston), White People (Boston Theatre Marathon), Love's Fire and Concord Marrow (Exquisite Corps Theatre).

Jessica Webb (Squealer, Molly, Cat) holds her BFA from Northern Illinois University's Meisner Training program, training with Master Teacher Kathryn Gately, co-founder of the Gately/Poole Studio in New York City located on Off Broadway's Theatre Row. Film and Television:  Bev in Crooked Lane (Leftbank Films), Sitka Alaska Airline Passenger in The Proposal, Kareoke Patron in Paul Blart:Mallcop, Jennifer in Inspiration (I.S. Films, Inc.), Evelyn in Hands of the Nocturnal Clock
(I.S. Films, post-production), Isobel in Meet the Mayfarers (with Mill Pond Productions, webseries), Sue/Jenny in The Time Travel Tours, and Wendy/Ravenous in Bad Guy Dates (with Mill Pond Productions, webseries, post-production). Boston Theatre: Sister James in Doubt, Lizzie Currie in Rainmaker, Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, Greta in Witness for the Prosecution (Foothills Theatre);  Mary in It's a Wonderful Life (Stoneham Theatre); Abigail/Elizabeth in The Crucible
(New Rep On Tour); Waiting... (New England Fringe Festival); Anaiis Nin Goes to Hell and Beautiful American Soldier (Boston Theatre Works Unbound); and Headbanger, The Pre-nup, Outed, and Ritz Rendezvous (Boston Theatre Marathon). Regional Theatre: Aleck in The $30,000 Bequest and Actress D in The Dressing Room (Organic Theatre Company); Cinderella in Cinderella, Katerina in Amadeus, and Julie in Jake's Women (Nomad Theatre Company); and Aleck The $30,000 Bequest (Moscow Art Theatre). Upcoming: Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (New Rep On Tour) and Claudius in Hamlet (GAN-e-meed Theatre Project).
 
Stefanie Sertich (director) is a New York City director, choreographer, and acting coach. Stef is happy to be collaborating with New Rep on Animal Farm this fall. Select directing credits include, Off Broadway: Artf**kers (Daryl Roth 2nd Stage, Asst. Director); Do Gooder (The Public Theatre, NYU MFA workshop); The Useless Man (Intar New Works Lab), and Off-Off Broadway: The Dome, Museum Pieces, and West Moon Street (Prospect Theatre). Stef has directed several
Broadway Junior workshops for MTI, iTheatrics, and Disney Theatricals. Asst. Director on iTheatrics National Tours of The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley and A Year with Frog and Toad.  Select regional credits: Napoli Millionaria! (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Asst. Director to Libby Appel); Electra (Classical Greek Theatre of Oregon); Kimberly Akimbo (Salem Rep Theatre); Weeping Woman and Dark Step and Dawning (Stark Raving Theatre, Director in Residence 2002-2005). Director/Choreographer at Stagedoor Manor (2007-2009). Stefanie also directs for NYU's Tisch MFA dramatic writing program, teaches musical theatre at City Lights Youth Theatre, and works privately with students in NYC and Boston. Stefanie is a registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance, and she has been teaching Vinyasa Yoga for the last year. BA Acting (Western Michigan University); MFA Directing (University Of Portland).

The Tour schedule is as follows:

Bourne High School-October 22, 2009
Tantasqua High School-October 23, 2009
Burlington High School-October 29, 2009
Mount Alvernia School-November 11, 2009
I.S.O.B-November 12, 2009
Billerica High School-November 17, 2009
Lynnfield High School-November 18, 2009
Brighton High School-November 19, 2009
Another Course to College-November 20, 2009
Pinkerton Academy-November 23, 2009
Boston Day and Evening Academy-November 24, 2009
Horace Mann School-November 30, 2009
Keene High School-December 01, 2009
Scituate High School-December 02, 2009
Boston Arts Academy-December 03, 2009
Perkins School for the Blind-December 04, 2009