David Crespy founded the University of Missouriâs Writing for Performance program which received the 2017 Gold Medallion from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Twice a Fulbright recipient, he wrote Off-Off-Broadway Explosion and Richard Barr: The Playwrightsâ Producer both with a foreword by Edward Albee. He has taught workshops in dreamwork for dramatic writing across the US as well as in Spain and Greece.
Introduction Dreamwork for Dramatic Writing
1âAn Organic Approach to Magic and Theatricality
2âHow to Use This Book
1âThe Dreamwright Workshop Relaxation, The Trance State, and Daydreaming
1âBuilding your Dream Cache: Keeping a Dream Journal
2âA Dream Example
3âA Dream, 8/27/22, Madrid, Spain, Titled: The Bearded Man
4âStep 1 â The Warm-Up â Getting into the Flow
5âBasic Writerâs Physical Warm-Up
6âShoulder Warm-Up
7âNeck Warm-Up
8âBack Warm-Up
9âBreath Work
10âRelaxation Exercise
11âStep 2 â Devising Your Dream Cache â Gathering the Stuff of Your Imagination
12âInitial Dream Prompts
13âDramatic Element Prompts
14âDesires
15âProblems/Obstacles
16âFeelings
17âQuestions
18âPeople
19âEvents
20âPlaces
21âAnimals
22âPlants
23âObjects
24âThe Next Step â Creating with Dream Elements
25âStep 3â Writing a Dream â Freeing Your Natural Creativity
â 25.1âDream Tropes
31âChapter by Chapter Summary â Dreamwright Styles
2âStructure of the Dreamwork, Myth, Ceremony, and Ritual August Strindbergâs Dream Play and Orson Welles Citizen Kane
1âOrson Welles and the Flashback Dream Structure
3âAncient Dream Structures: Myths and the Greek Chorus Sophoclesâ Oedipus the King, Paula Vogelâs How I Learned to Drive, Lanford Wilsonâs Book of Days, and Marcel Camusâ Black Orpheus
1âHow I Learned to Drive â Paul Vogelâs Contemporizing the Chorus
2âHow I Learned to Drive â a Circular Structure of Revelation
3âLanford Wilsonâs Book of Days â the Lyric Chorus
4âMarcel Camusâ Black Orpheus â the Liminality of Carnival
4âAfrican-American Dream Funhouse â Creating Ritual Liminality Adrienne Kennedyâs Funny House of a Negro and Julieâs Dashâs Daughters of the Dust
1âJulie Dash and the Structure of the Griotâs Song
5âTransfiguration of Gender and Identity â Transformations, Mutability, and Androgyny Jean Genetâs The Balcony and Sally Potterâs Orlando
1âJean Genet: Criminal Gender Illusionist
2âOrlando â Sally Potter â a History of Gender Fluidity
6âThe Dreamerâs Heart â Thinking Backwards First Character Dreams and Storytelling â McDonaghâs The Pillowman and Christopher Nolanâs: Memento
1âStory Structure in McDonaghâs The Pillowman
2âHairpin: The Structure of Christopher Nolanâs Memento
7âMagic Plot Cards â The Dreamwright as Storyteller Tony Kushnerâs Angels in America, Charlie Kaufmanâs Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Guillermo Arriagaâs 21 Grams
1âTony Kushnerâs Angels in America â A Reluctant Prophet and a Reformed Sinner
2âGuillermo Arriagaâs 21 Grams â Daily Dreams and Time Jumps
â 2.1âThe Interweave Process
8âThe Snap of the Heartstring â Symbolism and Romanticism Chekhovâs The Cherry Orchard, Jose Riveraâs Cloud Tectonics, Marguerite Durasâ Hiroshima Mon Amour
1âSnapping of a String â the Essence of Chekhovâs Symbolism
4âUnending Conversations: The Voice-Over Romance of Marguerite Durasâs Hiroshima, Mon Amour
5âMarguerite Duras â Hiroshima Mon Amour â Love in a Time of Nuclear Holocaust
9âRealms of Theatricality â Surrealism and Waking Dreams Thornton Wilderâs Pullman Car Hiawatha and David Lynchâs Mulholland Drive
1âTwisted Noir: The Mobius Detective in David Lynchâs Mulholland Drive
2âMuholland Drive â Twisting the Noir â Arouse Your Nocturnal Detective
10âInside out â a Feminist Expressionism of Dreaming Sarah Ruhlâs Eurydice and Karen Moncrieffâs The Dead Girl
1âKaren Moncrieff â The Dead Girl â Unpeeling the Onion of Grief
11âEpic Theatre and The Lucid Dream Bertolt Brechtâs The Threepenny Opera and Lucy Alibarâs Beasts of the Southern Wild
1âLucy Alibar â Beasts of the Southern Wild â The Lucidity of a Child
12âPostmodernist Worlds of Slippage Pirandelloâs It Is So! (If You Think So) and Eleanor Perryâs The Swimmer
1âEleanor Perry â The Swimmer â Multiverse Pools of Desire
2âEntering the Absurd â Final Clarity of the Insane Vision â Collapse of Drama into Performance
13âThe Absurdist Nightmare and the Dramatic Wet Dream Ionescoâs The Bald Soprano, SamuelBeckettâs Play, and Quentin Tarantinoâs Pulp Fiction
1âSamuel Beckettâs Play â Pushing On/Pushing Through â I Canât Go on, Iâll Go On
2âThe Maw of Pop Culture: Pulp Fiction and the Structure of Story Threads
â 2.1âQuentin Tarantinoâs Dramaturgical Essence â the Cacophony of Scenic Sequencing
15âComedy Shock: Rhythms of Menace and Joy Harold Pinterâs The Birthday Party, Irene Fornesâ Conduct of Life, and Jean-Luc Godardâs Weekend
1âHarold Pinter â Playwright of Tension and Release â the Comedy of Unease
3âJean-Luc Godardâs Weekend: The Horrible, Wonderful, Murderous Success of Corinne and Roland
Conclusion The Work of a Dreamwright â Transcending the Possible
1âThe Dream Cache
Index
Playwrights, screenwriters, television writers, showrunners, film and stage directors, dramatic literature and theatre history scholars, fiction-writers, story-tellers, actors, culture historians, theatre and performance studies professors and graduate students, film and theatre libraries.