Rehearsal shot from A Dream Play, directed by Simona Giurgea and produced by English 259: Performance 1 students
How do we interpret and express our dreams? Twelve theater majors have set out to answer this question, among others, with the spring University Theater production of .
It will be performed in Brehmer Theater, Dana Arts Center and will run through the weekend.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a very emotional, completely different play that is beautiful to see at work,鈥 said director , senior lecturer of English in the University Theater. 鈥淚t requires a lot of tenderness and giving of the self on the part of the students, who are becoming vulnerable, in touch with each other, and responsible for each other.鈥
Written by August Strindberg in 1901, the avant-garde play ambitiously aims to capture the more vivid, intense, and meaningful way things happen in dreams.
Students in Giurgea鈥檚 English 259: Performance 1 class have been involved in every aspect of the production 鈥 from the acting and singing, to short video supplements, to the complex sound and lighting design.
鈥淭his has been an excellent chance for me to delve into the nuances of studying a part and really getting to know the world of a play,鈥 reflected theater major Ben Mandell 鈥14, who is playing 鈥渢he lawyer.鈥
Other characters include the poet, the daughter Agnes, the gatekeeper, and the officer. The movements are performed with high intensity and demand swift changes, to replicate the nature of dreams.
鈥淕iurgea provides a crucial dynamism that gives the play heart and soul, and passes that onto her actors while she works with them. I have learned a great deal about myself as an actor and as a person from working with her,鈥 Mandell said.
The university commissioned , professor of dramaturgy and dramatic criticism at the Yale School of Drama, to translate Strindberg鈥檚 play for Giurgea. Walsh came to discuss his work as part of the series on March 11.
鈥淩arely do people understand how much knowledge one needs to have about an author in order to translate a play,鈥 stressed Giurgea. 鈥淧aul Walsh is one of the most sophisticated, refined, and cultivated people in theater I鈥檝e encountered.鈥
A Dream Play will be performed tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. in Brehmer.