Connecticut Reperatory Theatre Presents A DREAM PLAY, Closes 4/3

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) will present August Strindberg's A Dream Play, adapted and directed by Joseph Jonah Therrien March 24 - April 3, in the Studio Theatre on the Storrs campus. For tickets and information, call 860-486-4226 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu.

CRT audiences have come to love puppet arts productions that feature all original puppet creations. August Strindberg's ground breaking experiment in surrealism A Dream Play, written in 1901, offers puppet artist Joseph Jonah Therrien fertile creative territory to stage this haunting story where Agnes, daughter of the gods, is sent down to earth to see if life is really as difficult as people make it out to be. Therrien will design and direct with all original puppets created specifically for this surreal world of gods and humans, where, as Strindberg writes in the preface, "Everything can happen, everything is possible and probable. Time and space do not exist."

This exciting theatrical challenge will be met through the art of puppetry, featuring a variety of styles and theatrical innovations. Director/Writer Joseph Jonah Therrien will tell the story using hand puppets, rod puppets, masks, toy theater elements, live puppeteers and dynamic lighting and set design.

Agnes is the daughter of Indra a Hindu God. She is curious about the nature of humanity. Indra decides to make her human and send her to earth to experience life as a human. Agnes meets a multitude of characters who merge together and split apart, just like in a dream. She discovers humanity is tragic and beautiful, and returns home with this new realization and an outcome she did not expect.

Director Joseph Jonah Therrien said, " In my adaptation, I have attempted to harness Strindberg's haunting images in order to reexamine what it means to be a human in a world where so much suffering exists. Using masks, rod puppets, hand puppets, toy theater elements, and a chorus of Suzuki Method trained puppeteers, the proportions of reality are exaggerated, relationships are stretched, and incongruous images are juxtaposed as the audience journeys with Agnes through a dream version of our world to unravel the mystery of human existence."

 

 

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