“I thought you might want to alert Mountain Xpress readers who love good theatre that they should not miss the opportunity to see the Warren Wilson Theatre production of a new play called Fever/Dream by Sheila Callaghan, which plays through this weekend.
The play is a witty send-up of contemporary corporate life with a most unlikely derivation, Life is Dream by the Renaissance playwright Calderon de la Barca.
Now, Warren Wilson Theatre is always doing adventurous, unusual new material and always does old material in adventurous, unusual new ways. But what really makes Fever / Dream a standout is the level of polish, professionalism and punch that director Ron Bashford (in his farewell production at Warren Wilson) elicits from his actors, his designers and his entire team.
I’ve seen a lot of theatre in Asheville in my 40 years here, and this was one of the best. One of the occupational hazards of having been a theatre director myself is that I can rarely turn off my critical antennae. But I was so charmed by Fever/Dream that I stopped looking for flaws and was totally lost in the play and the performance. A rare occurrence for me, as Fever/Dream is a rare theatre occasion for Asheville.”
The full article is here.
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Fever/Dream
An Adaptation of Calderon’s Life is a Dream
Sheila Callaghan’s Fever/Dream is fresh from its debut and appearing on Warren Wilson’s stage. This new production is a regional premiere!
March 4-7
Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm
Kittredge Theatre on the Warren Wilson College Campus
STUDENTS OF ANY SORT ARE FREE with ID.
Seniors, alumni, staff and faculty only $5, all others just $10.
CALL (828) 771-3040 for reservations, or write to theatre@warren-wilson.edu
Segis Basil is the lone resident of a dungeon-like basement in a corporate skyscraper: the customer service center of Basil Enterprises. Segis, by the orders of his father, Bill Basil, has been chained to a desk since childhood performing the banal tasks of the company’s worst job. When Rose, a masquerading bike-messenger-on-a-mission, discovers Segis in his basement prison, the seeds of a revolution begin to grow...Fever/Dream is Sheila Callaghan's comic adaptation of Calderón’s 17th century masterwork, Life is a Dream. This imaginative new play--first produced last year in Washington, D.C.--emulates the existential spirit of Calderón's original, which evokes questions of appearance versus reality, and alludes to the political turmoil occurring in Renaissance Spain. Fever/Dream transposes Calderón's original to the present. Is life in corporate America a dream? A nightmare? And can we awake from it?
Sheila Callaghan has written numerous critically acclaimed plays such as Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), We are Not These Hands, Lascivious Something, 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, and the prestigious Whiting Award. Callaghan is also a writer for the Showtime TV series The United States of Tara.
With a cast of twelve, the ambitious Warren Wilson Theatre production features student work in sound, video and projection design by Elizabeth Dacy, Hannah Jacobs, William Cumming and Robin Dhakal. The show is directed by Ron Bashford, with set and lighting design by Don Baker, choreography by Julie Gillum, and costume design by Bev Ohler. The production's stage manager is Hale Williams. The Theatre Crew--part of Warren Wilson's unique work program--builds the sets and costumes, and provides running crew, publicity, design, and box office support.
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