League Theatre
presents
The
Guide
A Theatergoer’s Resource
A Theatregoer’s
Life is a Dream Resource
By Pedro De La Barca
Table of Contents
From the Director……………………2
Character List………………………..3
Behind the Scenes…………………..4
Written by Pedro Calderón de la Barca The Story Behind the Story…………..5
Directed by John Landry
Sustainable Design in Theatre
and Its Importance………………….6
A Lesson on Theatre Etiquette……….7
Digital
Playbill
1
From the Director
“The stage for the play is always set, the lights
always lit, the actors,
forever the same, ardently speak their lines,
go out and come back,
resuming their roles, repeating their lines, twenty-four
hours a day.
It’s the world’s best unfinished play, ending only to start
all over again…”
~Edwin Honig
Edwin Honig drew his inspiration from varying Spanish and Portuguese
plays. His goal: to inform modern society of the continuing relevance of
different 17th century plays. He takes us back in time to show that our
world is in a constant state of repetition, despite our attempts to avoid
repeating history.
Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s “Life is a Dream” immerses us in a world in which the truth has been repressed
for the betterment of society, but a question arises: At what cost? Are the sacrifices made worth the outcome
when we know it’ll only fall back to the same pattern again? And is everything truly perfect if push someone
down to lift the rest up?
English philosopher Phillipa Foot designed a thought experiment to test her student’s ethics at Oxford. The
experiment was further made popular by Judith Jarvis Thomas who taught at MIT. It was deemed the name
“Trolley Problem” because it’s just that. Students were presented with a situation in which they were
individually given a decision. In this situation, students had to decide whether to pull the trolley level to kill one
person or leave it to kill five. Thomas furthered this problem by stating that the one person was a close friend
versus five strangers. The experiment was a play on utilitarianism and deontology and baffled many when
attempting to decide which choice was morally correct.
A similar decision arises when astrology presents Basil with an omen that he must choose to believe or ignore.
If he believes it, he loses his son but saves the kingdom of Poland. If he ignores it, it’s possible that Poland could
spiral into its eventual end. Seeing the death of his wife upon Segismund’s arrival proves to Basil to believe in
the omen. That this child would bring nothing but death upon the kingdom.
Segismund is robbed of his birthright because of something he couldn’t control, and that is the genesis of this
idea we’ve created surrounding the morality of right and wrong.
We decided that there is no simple, black-and-white answer to every situation. There’s a whole spectrum in
between that causes the line between right and wrong to be blurred. That’s what we need to remember.
John Landry
2
Character List
David Smart Jordan Barton
“Extremely excited “A wonderful,
to work with this brilliant concept
amazing cast and and story. Glad to
director. Truly share it with the
grateful!” world.”
Prince Segismund King Basil
Piper Stevenson Bonnie Shryock
“[The story] shares “Honored to play
an important lesson such a pivotal role!”
we must all accept.
Look for the cool
costume work!”
Princess Stella Rosaura
Sami Daye Caleb Locke
“It’s important to “In such a serious
tell stories like story, I love how
this, I’m grateful I my character is still
get to be apart of able to bring a
this one.” smile to faces.”
Clarion
Astolf
Thomas Smith
“This play tests the
limits of loyalty,
truth and morality.
Absolutely
brilliant!”
Clotaldo
3
Behind the Scenes
A Look Behind the Curtain
Set
• The archway placed upstage holds over 5,000 strands of string
that has been upcycled and reused in our production. Each is
coated with white, temperature-sensitive paint that changes
under heat. To avoid the changing effects in the play, LEDs are
used to light the arch until the color-changing agent is needed.
It represents the three point of repetition (see page 2) as well as
the sleek design of modernization. Its design was inspired by
the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas.
• The platforms are to resemble a fire escape or scaffolding,
typical to large cities. It represents the trodden areas that would
be considered out of uniform from middle- and upper-class
society. It uses reused metal.
• The red ladders connecting each platform represent the
hierarchical ladder that is common throughout the play.
• The effect of rain is produced by two rain bars that drizzle onto
the stage, leading into a guttering system built under the
stage.
• The floor under the rain bars are painted in a rainbow-like
pattern from stage right to left and coated with a black,
temperature-sensitive paint that changes when the heated
water falls from the rain bars.
Costumes
• Princess Stella’s costume has a color-changing effect that was
inspired by Sean Kelly’s dress from Project Runway. The dress
has packets of dye sewn into the seams of the dress that run
down the dress when wet. A plastic sheen is placed under the
fabric to protect the actress’ skin.
• Two styles were chosen to separate the different characters: late
20’s and modern wear. Characters working against the utopia
are in colorful, older styles that separate them from the sleek,
grayscale modern designs. Segismund’s different costumes
stand for his changes of perspective throughout the play. The
color-changing effects at the end represent the character’s
acceptance.
4
Pedro Calderón de la The truth is humanity will never be able to reach
The Story Barca’s Life is a Dream
compels readers to
perfection simply because we’re too human. We
prioritize our emotions and constantly base decisions
contemplate the extent in our life off of them. We live and learn from them.
Behind in which history repeats
itself and why it does.
We make mistakes because of them. Murder is born
from anger. War from the same. Depression from
The kingdom of Poland sadness, pain, loneliness, and a multitude of other
the Story has reached a state of
stability and prosperity.
emotions. In order to rid the world of bad, you also
have to take the cause away, and the world is a very
By Bethany Woemmel Built on science and bland, colorless place without emotions. That’s where
mathematics, they’ve the kingdom is. It’s in a state of black and white to
created a formula to foresee the future, “by which preserve their perfection.
[they’ve] robbed Time of its role,” (Calderón, 22). But, despite this, perfection is one of the most
Through this they’ve discovered an omen over the common attempts of the human mind. We crave and
soon-to-be-born heir to the throne. “His mother had strive for it. But since we live in a world in which
seen countless times, / Amid the strange delirium / everyone is unique and has their own preferences, it’s
Of dream, a monstrous form not quite / A human, but quite impossible to reach perfection when perfection
resembling one,” (Calderón, 23). During birth, the is different to every single person. Yet, we continue
queen dies, and in fear and anger, King Basil to try even when we know we won’t achieve it. This
imprisons the child, telling Poland both mother and is why it’s a nonstop battle against our own selves.
child died in birth. He brushes it under the rug to We split this pattern down into three major points
repress the threat the son has to their utopia. as most of literature is. First, you have a society that
Trouble arises though when Rosaura and Clarion has reached the level of “perfection”. On the surface,
stumble across the cell that contains the son named it seems as though everyone is happy and the
Segsimund. This sets off a chain of events that lead government works in a way that benefits the people.
to the downfall of the perfect society King Basil has Under that though, lies, deceit and wrongdoing pile
built in Poland. up. The sacrifices made to reach a place in which they
The arrival of Rosaura causes Basil to begin to feel no longer need to make them. But you cannot build a
the weight of his choice since someone now knows of society whose fundamental ideals are the opposite of
the truth. He decides to give Segismund a chance to what it’s made of. It all starts to crumble at some
redeem himself by proving the omen wrong. They point till nothing but the truth is left.
trick Segismund in to believing that when he awakes Second is the outbreak of chaos. The truth reveals
the prince of Poland, he is indeed dreaming. This acts itself and protest against what has been done break
as a safety net for them to fall back on incase it all out, destroying the initial state.
backfires, which of course, it does. Segismund ends Lastly, people learn from what has been done and
up murdering someone and threatening Clotaldo, a work for better. Despite all the bad that goes into
nobleman. So, they place him back into his prison building these worlds of false perfection, one thing
cell. bores itself from this constant repetition that has
Basil and Clotaldo decide to give Segismund one repeated since the dawn of time. It’s there at the end
last chance to prove himself, and once again it ends of a war we thought we were losing. It was there in
up going south. Segismund begins a riot against his Pandora’s box. It’s that speck of light at the end of a
father, claiming it wrong to steal him of his tunnel. It’s the saving grace. It’s the gamechanger.
birthright. He unites the people of Poland against the It’s hope.
king and eventually corner him. Segismund then There’s no stopping our endless need for perfection.
steps forward and describes the pitfalls of this so- There’s no stopping the bad things that root from it.
called “utopia” and the king’s crimes. In this he But our sequence allows us to remind ourselves that
realizes that he was never born a beast, but instead no matter what, good always wins. It gives us hope
made one from his father’s choices. He decides that for the next time we’re in the chaos. It gives us hope
he will not follow in his father’s crimes and grants that we’ll overcome.
him his life instead of his death. The cascading colors that emerge during
Basil, at this point, realizes who the true heir to the Segismund’s final monologue is the realization of
throne is and declares Segismund his birthright. hope. It’s the reveal of truth, emotion and the
This story has always littered our history and importance of both of those things.
literature since the dawn of time. It has constantly
repeated itself due to one simple fact: we’re human. 5
Sustainable Design
in Theatre and
It’s Importance
What is sustainable design?
Sustainable design is the practice of reducing
negative effects on the environment in fields of
design. In the architectural and electrical world, this
would include Earth cooling tubes, renewable heat,
geothermal heat pumps and more energy efficient
technologies.
What is being done in the theatrical arts?
In theatre, we’re able to also practice sustainable
design in scenic design, costuming, lighting,
marketing and many more aspects. By reusing and
upcycling old materials and implementing newer
technologies such as LEDs or digital playbills.
Our production of “Life is a Dream” will implement
these different technologies, reducing the carbon
footprint for this show. We’ve implemented scrap
metal, LEDs, a digital playbill and much more.
By doing these things we’re hoping to make an
impact even just a small one. We hope to bring
awareness to this new practice and in following,
increase the number of theatres practicing sustainable
design.
6
A Lesson in
Theatre Etiquette
Turn off all cellular devices Please take fussy children Avoid leaving during the
during the performance out into the lobby area performance
It’s extremely distracting to the It’s extremely distracting to the Unless your reason for leaving is the
actors when your “Old Town Road” actors when your husband or infant previous rule, don’t leave. It’s rude.
ringtone goes off, so please refrain get a little worked up, so please take
from allowing it to happen. them to the lobby.
Avoid speaking during Feet off the chairs Please, no flash
the performance This is not your home. These are not photography
Your conversation about how your seats. We’d like to keep our Or photography in general. It’s kind
absolutely awful this play is can wait seats for a very, very long time. We’d of illegal.
till after the show. The actors can also like to not have to clean them
hear you. Also, it’s rude. after every performance.
Refrain from falling asleep Absolutely no food or Keep others in mind
But if you do, do not snore. Then drink You really don’t want to be that
everyone will know that you’re This is not a movie theater. We do person.
asleep. We will find you. not sell such items, so don’t bring
them.
Lastly…
Enjoy the show! Because you’re not
getting your money back.
