Welcome to the 2025-26 Season of Annandale Theatre Company!
Thank you for joining us for our fall production of Annie. If you’ve only seen a film or TV version of this story, you may be surprised, as those versions changed a significant portion of the original Broadway production. However, it is the very sections those movies removed that make Annie feel most relevant today.
As I first considered directing Annie, I was hesitant. It seemed, well, problematic. Set squarely in the Great Depression, it tells the story of an abandoned child trapped in a neglectful orphanage who is suddenly “saved” by a wealthy industrialist, Oliver Warbucks, a billionaire with a capital “B.” They sing, they dance, and they live happily ever after. The familiar rags-to-riches narrative can sometimes gloss over the realities of poverty while glorifying the hoarding of wealth. That was not a story I wanted to tell.
As I looked more deeply into the stage version, I found a different Annie that wrestles with the social and economic questions of its time. Two scenes in particular, both often cut from the films, captured my attention: “Hooverville” and the Cabinet Scene.
In “Hooverville,” we meet a group of people who are, in their own words, “ragged, hungry, homeless.” They rail against President Herbert Hoover’s policies that promised prosperity but instead left millions destitute. Later, in the Cabinet Scene, newly elected Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisors debate how to lift the nation from despair as unemployment rises, global tension builds, and the stock market remains unstable. It is Annie’s unwavering optimism, her belief in a better tomorrow, that sparks a vision for the New Deal and the power of collective action.
In our interpretation of the finale, “A New Deal for Christmas,” Warbucks opens his home to the residents of Hooverville, symbolizing a shift toward empathy, community, and shared responsibility. As a theatre company, we have explored what it means to hold great wealth today and, more importantly, what it means to share it. We have reflected on the idea that true prosperity comes not from accumulation but from connection.
At its heart, Annie is a story of resilience and hope, a reminder that even in the hardest times, we are stronger together. As families in our own communities face uncertainty, may this story inspire you to look for light and make connections that help support one another.
We hope you find joy in our production of Annie and that you carry a little of Annie’s optimism and courage into your own tomorrow.
Kylie Murray
Director
Annandale Theatre Company
