A Dream Inside Another: 2005
ADIA takes dance theater to a new place with a lush exploration into the world of magical realism. Based on three short stories by Isabel Allende, ADIA is a lyrical depiction of the essence of love in its many incarnations. Each tale catches its characters at a critical juncture, when the catastrophic force of romantic passion alters their lives forever: in "Wicked Girl," a girl's budding sexuality flings her mother's lover into an inescapable maelstrom; in "Tosca," a woman remakes her life as an operatic fantasy and faces the consequences; in "The Little Heidelberg," a man who never spoke to his dance partner expresses his desire after 30 years. Created in collaboration with Sideshow Physical Theatre of Davis, Calif., artistic directors John Flax and Della Davidson blend theater and dance to create a highly textured stage environment that blurs traditional distinctions between time and space, text and movement, to deftly express the paradoxical beauty of magical realism.
Performance History: Mondavi Center, Davis, CA. Armory for the Arts, Santa Fe, NM
Reviews
"mesmerizing"
Sacramento News and Review
"(a) masterpiece....unspeakably beautiful...the most sweepingly expressive piece of theater Santa Fe has seen in a long time....."
The Santa Fe Reporter
"Spellbinding....filled with power and glory...balanced on the high edge between daring and danger."
The Santa Fe New Mexican
"a fabulously surrealistic dance of sex, love, and death....brilliant...incredible"
THE Magazine, Santa Fe
"Theater Grottesco and Sideshow Physical Theatre take us inside Isabel Allende's world of lush imagery and emotion to create a magical realism of the stage...a dreamlike journey full of vivid images and larger-than-life characters."
The Sacramento Bee
Touring Requirements
Running Time 2 hours
Personnel 7 performers/1 Artistic Director/2crew members
Sound 4 CD players, 8 speakers, 1 subwoofer, 5 amps, mixing board
Lighting 100 instruments, 96 dimmers (minimum, varies according to space)
Video 3 projectors (specifications available upon request)
Stage 30 X 30 X 18 minimum. Proscenium, thrust, or black box
Wooden, dance or sprung floor, marley
Set Up 5 day minimum, 2 hour strike
Assistance Pre-hung plot, crew for load-in, set up, focus, and load out.
Lighting, sound and video operators
A Dream Inside Another was funded in part by The Rockefeller MAP Fund, a University of California Chancellor's Award for Excellence and a UC Institute for Research in the Arts grant. Theater Grottesco has been featured on the Arts Midwest, Western States & Michigan Touring Rosters.