Gamut Theatre Group's Stage Door Series to Present 1984 in January

Gamut Theatre Group has announced the next production of the Stage Door Series: George Orwell's 1984, adapted by Robert Owens, Wilton E. Hall, Jr., and William A. Miles, Jr., which will be presented on January 16-17 and 23-24 at 7:30 p.m. at Gamut Classic Theatre in Strawberry Square, Harrisburg.

The Stage Door Series began in 2010, and offers diverse, exciting, classically-themed programming with simpler technical elements than a Mainstage season production, focusing simply on the words and emotional journeys in a piece. All productions in the Stage Door Series are Bring Your Own Price, where any size donation buys admission to the show. The Series' motto is "Come as you are, pay what you will."

Based on George Orwell's iconic novel, 1984 is set in a dystopian future and tells the story of Winston Smith, a cog in the giant machine state of Oceania. Physically and mentally under the omnipresent eye of Big Brother, Winston is struggling for scraps of love and freedom in a world awash with distrust and violence.

Director Jeff Luttermoser, whose past Stage Door Series directorial endeavors include Dracula and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, feels that although the novel was written in the late 1940s and is based on a fictionalized 1984, the story is still relevant.

"This story may be an extreme example, it may be hyperbole, but things that happen in 1984 have happened," Luttermoser explained. "It's frightening to constrain people's freedom to exist, to think, to love, to work. And it's happened. It's still happening. I don't think this story is necessarily a warning or a prophecy, I think in some ways, it's a mirror."

Luttermoser has cast eight live actors in 1984 and three who will be present only by voiceover. All live actors will be present on stage for the entire production, which Luttermoser feels reflects the constant surveillance that Winston and everyone in Oceania experiences.

"The whole cast will be on stage watching, and the audience will be watching them," he said. "It adds layers of being watched."

The cast includes Sean Adams as Winston Smith, Alexis Campbell as Julia, Ed Webb and O'Brien, Amber Mann as Parsons/Guard, David Richwine as Syme/Guard, Lisa Leone Dickerson as Landlady/Guard, Hannah Edwards as Gladys/Messenger/Guard, Brennen Dickerson as Martin/Guard, J. Clark Nicholson as the voice of Big Brother, Charles Hooker as the voice of Goldstein and David Ramon Zayas as the voice on the Loudspeaker.

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