Event

Life is a Dream

THE PLAY
Mixing humor, poetry, and drama, Calderon's "Life is a Dream" explores the political and personal implications of living in a world where nothing is permanent and power is just an illusion. The Building Stage highlights the play's reversals of fortune and the illusion of power by employing just five actors to perform the seven major characters not to mention the scores of servants, courtiers, and soldiers the story requires.

This life's so strange
Living it is just a dream
Everyone who lives
is only dreaming who they are til they awake.

THE EVENT
When "Life is a Dream" was originally presented, the theater was a raucous place where performances included music, dance, and other entertainments before, after, and between the acts of the play. Creating a modern parallel to this experience, The Building Stage has been transformed into an "industrial saloon" with each weekend featuring a different live band in addition to this classic 17th century play.

ABOUT THE BUILDING STAGE
The Building Stage exists to create original theatrical events that celebrate, mourn, explore, and question our world and ourselves. Serving as both a neighborhood theater and a cultural destination, we seek to combine an entertaining, approachable experience with unique and challenging artistic products. We aspire to contribute to the evolution of the modern theater as we rediscover the vital role that theater can play in American cultural life.

The Building Stage works from pre-existing sources that reflect the world we live in. We transform those sources through rehearsal, creating on our feet, with no separation between play and production. This process allows us to highlight the rapport that is created between performers and audience in the space and time of performance. Our pieces do not simply tell narrative stories; instead, they play with the boundary between poetry and prose, engaging the mind as well as the emotions, stirring the imagination as much as the senses.