Dreamland Theater is bringing life to George Orwell's "Animal Farm" with its puppet show adaption of the 1945 dystopian novella.
Dreamland Theater is a community arts space that opened in 2002 and operated as an LLC until 2009, when it became a nonprofit. Dreamland hosts a variety of art galleries, live music and theater performances, and independent films, but it is most well-known for puppet shows.
Dreamland's adaptation of the novel is more than 15 years in the making. Producer, director, puppet maker and owner of Dreamland Theater, Naia Venturi, began writing the adaptation in 2010 with the goal of keeping as true to the original story as possible.
“I had to cut out some characters, because there's a lot of characters. It's always tricky to translate anything, whether it's an actual novel like 'Animal Farm,' or even a play, into a puppet show, because you really can't have long monologues, because they get really boring with puppets. [You need] to just figure out the timing, and what to keep in and how to stay true to the story ... that's pretty tricky,” Venturi said.
The show will feature several different types of puppets, all handmade by the production staff. The backdrops and props were also designed and hand-painted by production staff.
Venturi said the biggest reward is getting to see how the audience reacts to their shows.
"It's always tricky because you get to memorize the show because of rehearsals; you have it so in your head that you kind of lose objectivity. So it's always nice to hear an audience laugh when you added something you thought was funny, and then forgot that it was supposed to be funny, and then they laugh, and you're like ‘oh, right, that was funny,'" Venturi said.
"Animal Farm" is a satirical, allegorical story about mistreated farm animals who rebel against their human owner with the goal of creating a free, just society. Instead, their rebellion is hijacked, pushing them back into totalitarianism and dystopia. Using farm animals, Orwell delivers a satirical critique of the Russian Revolution and Stalinism.
“I like dystopian fiction, which is what this is. It's a very famous book because the story resonates for a lot of different people about different periods in history. I think I felt, because of all of the changes in the world right now, politically and so forth, that this was a good time to finally put it on," Venturi said.
The show opened April 4, 2026, and remaining dates are April 23 and 26 as well as May 1, 9 and 16 at 7 p.m. Front row tickets are $18, general admission tickets are $15, and pay-what-you-can shows are April 23 and 26 with a minimum price of $10, the Dreamland Theater website says. Performances take place at Dreamland Theater, located at 26 N. Washington St., Ypsilanti.
