Love, death and dreams
By Christine Foster

Theater
Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams
Tues–Sat, Jan 15–19, 8pm
Sun, Jan 20, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos; Opening night 
with post-show reception, 200 Pesos

Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams is an ironic love letter about the joys and heartbreaks of life in the theater. Through the years Terrence McNally’s plays have been hailed as satiric and darkly comic, but also as compassionate and lyrical.

As actress Swoosie Kurtz says of his work, “He shapes the opera of the human heart.”

Dedication weaves together three story lines, each about what we are willing to sacrifice to realize our dreams: Jessie and Lou Nuncle, a likeable middle-aged couple, have given up fading careers on the legitimate stage to run a struggling children’s theater in upstate New York. Their marriage is fading, too, a fact made worse by the attraction between Jessie and their technical director, Arnold. The threesome discover, explore and covet an abandoned vaudeville house on Main Street. The grand old building is slated to be torn down, unless Lou can persuade Mrs. Willard, the owner, to let them bring it back to life. But her price is higher than Lou could ever have imagined. And that price has nothing to do with money.

Meanwhile, Jessie’s daughter, Ida, a rising rock and roll star, is touring to sell-out crowds with dazzling pyrotechnics and special effects. When Ida suddenly shows up with her soundman lover, Toby, she is trailing both emotional baggage and a secret need to make amends with her mother. Ida and Toby are a million-volt reminder of what new and younger audiences seem to want on stage.

I asked Michael Gottlieb, the director, why he wanted to tackle this intriguing black comedy. “I guess I chose this play because of my own love affair with the theater and with show people. As the song says, ‘they smile even when they are low.’ This show is about show people and takes place in a theater, but they’re not in costume and they are face to face with each other without the cover of song and dance, the schtick, the routine.

“These people are family, best friends, but they have been hiding from each other for years through the characters they put on each day to face the world with a smile. And it’s Mrs. Willard—afflicted unto death with reality—who forces these pretenders to look into their hearts and examine the masks we place over our fears, desires and, ultimately, our dreams as we contemplate the ‘meaning’ of our lives.

“And I also chose it because I think it’s really funny, dramatic and surprising with great characters by one of our foremost contemporary playwrights.”

Dedication, a life-affirming play about love, death and choices, is produced by Player’s Workshop. The terrific cast includes David Hunter and Irene Diamant as Lou and Jessie, Chris Davis as Arnold, Gwenneth Holmes and Seth Sharp as Ida and Toby, Elena Shoemaker as Mrs. Annabelle Willard and Juan Vincourt as her quirky chauffeur, Edward. 

Tickets are available in the Biblioteca patio 10:30–1:30pm and the theater box office 4–8pm..