Dream a little life dream with CTC Ellie White-Stevens “Oh if life were but a dream. All who live; we dream . . . we dream until we wake, dreaming ‘til we die . . .What is this miserable life? A drifting delight slipping quietly away from our desperate, dreaming grasp. Life is a dream. And dreams are treacherous things.” -Segismundo in Life is a Dream Calvin Theatre Company has a dream in the works. A dream of lush costumes, swordplay, original electronic music and lyrical prose. A dream where Post-modernism meets the Renaissance, and five television screens with gilded frames display the action as in a T.V. studio. “Life is a Dream” by Pedro Calderon de la Barca has been adapted from varied versions of the Spanish translation by T.M. Camp, and premiered in the Gezon Auditorium on November 5. “There’s a dream that’s in the center of the play,” explained Director Stephanie Sandberg, “Segismundo is imprisoned at birth by his father the astrologer king, played by Nick Rogers. The son comes of age, and the father has to do something with his son, so he drugs him and dresses him royally. He tells him his past life was a dream. Segismundo [the son] is extremely confused. All of a sudden he sees himself on camera. He’s in denial - thinks the royalty is a dream. He accepts the dream and becomes ego-bloated. He tries to kill a courtier, kills a servant and tries to rape a woman, all in about 15 minutes.” But the play continues, weaving together two major onstage battles, a duel and a marathon eight minute monologue said by the king. The plot twists tighter than a tornado. When I watched the last half of the show I was amused and moved; I both laughed and cried. The humor and plot were as timeless as Shakespeare’s. There are several subplots. One involves Signal, played by Todd Herring. Herring said, “[Signal] has a very biting humor. When he blatantly mocks something he does it in a very melodramatic way. There’s truth lying in all these jokes.” Signal isn’t the only complex character. Priscilla Meeuwenberg plays a character trinity: Rosa, Thorn and Iris. She said, “It’s three different characters, but I have to draw a line through all of them.” Deborah Lew, who plays Estrella, said the technical aspects were most difficult. The cast has to, as she said, “play to cameras rather than other cast members.” According to Costume Designer Melissa Merz, the technicality of the show has been blended into the costuming. She said, “They have so much technology; somebody else is telling you what is reality. I try to convey that idea by using metallics.” Referring to the five T.V. screens used in the show, Sandburg said, “T.V. is an interesting medium; it chooses what you see.” And Calvin has never seen anything like this. “Life is a Dream” tickets are currently on sale at the box office for November 7-8 and 14-16 in the. They cost $4 for Thursday night, and $5 for Friday and Saturday nights. The show lasts about two and a half hours, including an intermission.