A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling

Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy  /  4w, 3m

Adam Rapp

An absurdist comedy of manners, Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling lifts the veil on the lives of two wealthy American families and shows us how even the most polished among us can behave like animals.

Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary
Dr. Bertram and Sandra Cabot invite longtime friends Dirk and Celeste Von Stofenberg to their beautiful Connecticut Gold Coast home in honor of James, the Von Stofenbergs’ only son, who has recently been released from an esteemed private psychiatric hospital. The feast promises to be delicious, but when Sandra enlists Dirk to help her change the course of her life, the sky turns a strange color, Canadian geese start crashing into the bay window, and the fate of the evening tilts toward an inevitable conclusion that promises to change the lives of all who come to the table.
History
Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling, presented by the Atlantic Theater Company, premiered at Classic Stage Company in New York City on October 3, 2011. The performance was directed by Neil Pepe.
Keywords
Performing Groups

SANDRA CABOT (pronounced “Saundra”) – White, older-middle-aged, very fit, sexy, cutthroat.
WILMA – An African American woman of thirty.
DIRK VON STOFENBERG – a vigorous fifty-ish dealmaker. Fit and handsome, possesses a thick head of hair, looks younger than his age.
DR. BERTRAM CABOT (BERT) – Sandra’s husband. White, balding with wisps of hair.
CORA CABOT – Sandra and Bert's daughter. Twenty-six, tall, oddly beautiful. A bit ghostly.
CELESTE VON STOFENBERG – Dirk's Wife. Fifty-ish, sweet. Her beauty is slightly obscured by her shyness.
JAMES VON STOFENBERG – Dirk and Celeste's son. Thirty, a bit forlorn-looking and haunted. Uses a cane and walks with a limp.

  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting The dining room of a wealthy American home belonging to the Cabots.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol

Media

“Elegant lyricism with a sharply satiric edge.” - TheaterMania

"Dark and wild...a sharp and cynical view of an America devouring itself and destroying the natural world." - Backstage

"Adam Rapp writes funny lines for scary people. That’s not a shabby talent and it’s on smart display in Dreams of Flying Dreams of Falling." - Variety

"Playfully horrifying, socio-political, stylishly surreal, black comedy... it is devilishly funny and deviously profound." - CurtainUp

"Thoroughly enjoyable...truly fearsome." - Vulture

"The most brazenly bizarre thing [Adam Rapp has] ever done... if you want to watch end times in New England, this show gives you front-row seats." - The New York Post

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

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Authors

Adam Rapp

Adam Rapp

Adam Rapp is the author of numerous plays, which include Nocturne (American Repertory Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop), Finer Noble Gases (26th Humana Festival), Stone Cold Dead Serious (A.R.T.), Blackbird (The Bush, London), Essential Self-Defense (Playwrights Horizons/Ed ...

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