Premiere in the Mountains

Where else can students get such a practical education in all aspects of theater production and a first-class liberal arts education? Warren Wilson College, of course. Here's the most recent press release written by a student in our "Theatre Office Crew". What it doesn't mention is that student designers are in charge of sound, props and video projection!

Regional Premiere of Sheila Callaghan’s Gut-busting New Play

“'Fever/Dream' is a pizzazz-filled concoction that skewers corporatism with a generous supply side of laughs... a fast-paced fable on corporate culture run amok.” -Kate Wingfield, Metro Weekly

Swannanoa gets a taste of surreal corporate intrigue with Warren Wilson Theatre’s production of Sheila Callaghan’s wise and witty new play, Fever/Dream. Fever/Dream is an updated, hip and darkly comic version of the classic Life is a Dream by the Spanish Renaissance playwright Calderón. Callaghan’s play had its world premiere just this year at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC, attracting the national attention of playgoers and critics alike.

The play follows the story of the imprisoned Segis Basil, the son of big business executive Bill Basil. Segis, by the orders of his father, has been chained to a desk and forced to work in customer service in the basement of the Basil Enterprises skyscraper. Life is monotonous and inhumane for Segis until a disillusioned bike courier and her nerdy friend discover him. Together, the trio rattle the whole office building, shaking-up ennui-stricken video-blogging corporate associates and uncovering executive plots on their way up the management chain. Released from his prison, will Segis succeed in transforming corporate culture in the age of new media, or will he be returned to his customer service dungeon and believe it’s all been a dream?

Sheila Callaghan is a working playwright who creates relevant and meaningful plays for the blogging and tweeting Echo Boomer generation. She has written numerous critically acclaimed plays such as Scab, Crawl Fade to White, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), We Are Not These Hands, Dead City, Lascivious Something, Kate Crackernuts, and That Pretty Pretty; or, The Rape Play. She is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award for emerging artists, a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwright's Center in Minneapolis, a MacDowell Residency, a 2005 Cherry Lane Mentorship Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and the prestigious Whiting Award. Callaghan is also a writer for the television series The United States of Tara, starring Toni Collette and created by Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody.

Director and Theatre Department Co-Chair Ron Bashford chose Fever/Dream to showcase the best new American playwriting at Warren Wilson and to provide students with the opportunity to work on a play that reflects contemporary issues with a fresh perspective.

Fever/Dream performs at Kittredge Theatre on the Warren Wilson College Campus on March 4, 5 and 6 at 8 p.m. and March 7 at 2 p.m. Tickets are free for all students, $5 for senior citizens and Warren Wilson alums, and $10 general admission.

As collaborators, the students and staff of Warren Wilson Theatre strive to create some of the most exciting and interesting theatre in the Asheville area at exceptionally affordable prices. All performances are open to the public. For ticket information, please call (828) 771-3040 or e-mail us at theatre@warren-wilson.edu. Interested theatergoers and prospective students may visit our website and sign up for our new e-newsletter at get.wwtheatre.info.