What is GOSSAMER about?

By Jeff Frank, Artistic Director and Director of GOSSAMER

People have been asking me, “What is GOSSAMER about?” It is about a world of dreams and tiny beings that make nightly visits into our homes collecting fragments of memories from household objects and returning those memories to us in our dreams. These dreamgivers provide solace in our times of need, and in GOSSAMER there are characters in need of help. An older woman who suffered a great loss early in her life has opened her door to a trouble young boy struggling to overcome the aftermath of an abusive father. It is up to a young dreamgiver to protect the boy from other creatures that seek to inflict nightmares and to provide dreams that will help the boy begin the healing process. That, in very quick terms, is the story, but the play is about much more.

What am I? What is my place in the world? How do I navigate through the challenges, nightmares and fears that are a part of everyone’s life? These questions are central to each of the characters in GOSSAMER. The answers aren’t easily found, but for me they emerge from love, hope, trust and dreams – elements we discover when we are able to look past our fears and open our hearts to others.

The power of connection with another human being can help us to overcome the things that would hold us back or drag us down and to become more than we might ever have imagined. For me, that is what the play is about.

As we navigate through rehearsals, I’ll share some of the process with you. How are we going to bring the dreamgivers to life on stage? What about the Sinisteed – the inflictors of nightmares, what will they look lie? You’ll find out soon.

"There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks." – William S. Burroughs

Until next time,
Jeff Frank

(photo: The four-way stretch spandex walls that will be used in the bedroom, the walls have slits in them and will stretch so the Sinisteeds can push through it.)