Dream HouseWest, a 27 year old RISD graduate, who has just spent the past seven years of his life working as a customer service rep at an online banking company, that is until a collapse at work and subsequent diagnosis puts an expiration date on West’s life. West see’s a doctor who lays it out on the table for him, he is dying, he has a few months to live, and his brain tumor is inoperable. She then encourages him to stay with family and do the things he’s always wanted to do. Shocked by the news West quits his job and moves back to semi-rural Amherst, Massachusetts, back to his overbearing yet nurturing Mother’s home, where he sets out to build the tree house of his dreams before his time runs out.
Dream House explores regret, language, and legacy in this comic tragedy where an epic tree house is built onstage and a family must face mortality, missed opportunities, and unfulfilled expectations. 3 women, 2 men |
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Cast Of Characters
WEST
27 M, studied design but got cozy in a day job, on the quiet side, introspective, good looking but maybe not aware of it. When WEST says nothing he says a lot in the nothing.
ELYSE
50s F, WEST's mom. She's overbearing, knows it, but denies it. Holds a secret too big for her which can make her a bit dizzy
DIANE
40's-50's F, Elyse's younger sister, and West's "Aunt Diane." A hip Lesbian renewal Rabbi. A bit of a meddler.
SAMMY
27 F, WEST's oldest friend- a stoner, joker, looking for more but you'd never know it. Should be ethnically ambiguous.
DOCTOR / JOE
30s-40s M. DOCTOR Thinks he has a good sense of humor despite the bleak news he often has to give. Joe carries himself with the spirit of a sprite twenty something, he's excited by life, but also distracted. Joe could easily be mistaken for Charles Manson by looks alone.
CHORUS
Everyone except West. CHORUS A (Elyse), B (Diane), D (Joe), and E (Sammy). They are sometimes fluid. Sometimes sharp. Sometimes Mass Effect. Sometimes real. CHORUS D, unless otherwise described, should be a projection of West's father Joe, hippie and woodsy and free.
27 M, studied design but got cozy in a day job, on the quiet side, introspective, good looking but maybe not aware of it. When WEST says nothing he says a lot in the nothing.
ELYSE
50s F, WEST's mom. She's overbearing, knows it, but denies it. Holds a secret too big for her which can make her a bit dizzy
DIANE
40's-50's F, Elyse's younger sister, and West's "Aunt Diane." A hip Lesbian renewal Rabbi. A bit of a meddler.
SAMMY
27 F, WEST's oldest friend- a stoner, joker, looking for more but you'd never know it. Should be ethnically ambiguous.
DOCTOR / JOE
30s-40s M. DOCTOR Thinks he has a good sense of humor despite the bleak news he often has to give. Joe carries himself with the spirit of a sprite twenty something, he's excited by life, but also distracted. Joe could easily be mistaken for Charles Manson by looks alone.
CHORUS
Everyone except West. CHORUS A (Elyse), B (Diane), D (Joe), and E (Sammy). They are sometimes fluid. Sometimes sharp. Sometimes Mass Effect. Sometimes real. CHORUS D, unless otherwise described, should be a projection of West's father Joe, hippie and woodsy and free.
Development History
- Reading at The Nora Theatre Company & Central Square Theatre. Directed by Rebecca Bradshaw
- Development at New Repertory Theatre in their Next Voices Fellowship.
- The first 30 pages were read at Sanctuary Playwrights' Theatre in Astoria, NY, June 2014.
- This play was previously development with Interim Writers and The Accomplice Writers' Group.
