"A great addition to our field.”
—Robert Bosnak

Description

Dreaming Together introduces a playful, interactive

way to explore dreams together with the  help of easy,

inspiring theater techniques. It  begins with storytelling

what we recall, and quickly engages the inner genius

that speaks to us in imagery day and night.


An easy, safe way to get acquainted with dreams, 

Lipsky's original approach is fun and creatively

challenging for anyone. Inspired by Robert Bosnak's

approach to dreams, it's a powerful tool for any

dreamwork group. It's also particularly useful for

actors looking for a new way into their inner

emotional lives, and for a practical technique for

shaping personal material and dramatic text. An

ideal resource for:

• Individuals interested in their dreams

• Dreamworkers

• Team building groups

• Artists, creative people

• Actors, drama teachers and students

• Jungian and Jung-related organizations

• Self-development groups

• Any group whose members want to know one

  another better

Table of Contents

List of Full Dreams

Acknowledgments

How to Navigate this Book

Prologue

Theater of Dreams: An Overview


Our Own Shakespearean Stage

What Are Dreams?

Why Tell Dreams?

Why Act Dreams?

Why Dream Theater?

Why Dream Together?



Part One

Telling the Dream Story: Solo Dream Enactment


An Initiation Dream

Weaving Tales

Choosing a Dream

Warming up to Dreams

Playing all the Parts

Solo Dream Showings

A Sample Solo Script

Part Two

Creating the Dreamscape: Ensemble Dream Enactment


They All Want to Play Hamlet

Questioning Dreams

Listening to Dreams

Creating a Rough Draft

Ensemble Rehearsal & Performance

Part Three

Making Dream Theater: Dramatic Dream Enactment


Dreaming with an AIDS Patient

Shaping the Dream Show

Creating the Dream Script

Through the Mirror of Dreams

The Theatricality of Dreams

Part Four

Waking Dreams: Dream Enactment in Daily Life


Flying into Moscow

Life Dreams

Waking Dream Exercises

Lucid Dream/Lucid Life

A Goodnight Dream

Index

Advance praise

"I believe Shakespeare was the first to understand

the close affinity between acting and dreaming. Jon

Lipsky is the first to transform this perception into

a theatre method. Dreaming Together is a valuable

guide to using the unconscious as an acting

technique."

—Robert Brustein, founding director of The Yale

Repertory Theatre and The American Repertory

Theater, theatre critic for The New Republic since

1959, and author of fourteen books including The

Theatre of Revolt.

"Dreaming Together is entirely original, profound,

practical, and fun—a seamless blending of the dreaming

imagination and the playwright’s skill. It is a great

addition to our field of practical applications of the

work on dreams . . .”

—Robert Bosnak, past president of the International

Association for the Study of Dreams, author of A Little

Course in Dreams, Tracks in the Wilderness of Dreaming,

and Embodiment.

“Lipsky’s method creates a needed communal space

in which people can begin to experience that their dreams

are not solely about themselves and their personal

lives. . . . Through dream theater, the individual gains

the help of the group in bringing the dream into waking

life . . . to connect with the deep emotion of the dream.

This book will be of use to those who work with dreams

as professionals, those who are simply interested in and

intrigued by dreams, and those who are searching for

a meaningful way of being with others . . .”

—Mary Watkins, Ph.D., Core Faculty, Pacifica Graduate Institute

“Dreaming Together is a valuable addition to how we prepare

actors for a life of creative endeavor. Lipsky’s exercises

have solidly proven their efficacy to help students

open up to their imaginative potential, respect and be

excited by the ensemble spirit, develop emotional and

personal courage, and understand the transformative

power of theatre. . . . Step by step he guides us

through making a piece that is rooted in the

deepest part of our human experience—the

part that informs yet defies our rational selves,

often referred to as the indefinable mystery of

artistic creativity.”

—Kristin Linklater, School of the Arts, Columbia University,

author of Freeing the Natural Voice and Freeing

Shakespeare’s Voice

“Jon Lipsky's dream work frees the actor's imagination

in a unique way and connects the psycho-physical in a

truly liberating fashion. Dreaming Together will be of

immense benefit to acting teachers looking to

challenge the creative core in their students, to help

their students connect to the ‘self’ within each role,

and find an unusually rich well of new source material

in dreams.”

—Kaf Warman, Associate Teaching Professor in

Movement and Physical Acting, Carnegie Mellon

University

“Jon Lipsky's dream enactment workshops were a

highlight of the summer session at the European

Graduate School in Switzerland. Participants became

fully involved on both emotional and physical levels,

and the final performance was a revelation of the

power of enactment in exploring the inner world

of the dream. Lipsky's work is a fulfillment of Jung's

commandment to "Dream the dream onward!"

Lipsky's workshops are an aesthetic and psycho-

logical delight.”

—Stephen K. Levine, Ph.D., D.S.Sc., REAT, Professor

Emeritus, York University, Dean of the Doctoral

Program in Expressive Arts at the European Graduate

School, and author of numerous books, including

Poiesis: The Language of Psychology and the Speech

of the Soul

“I know of no other professional acting teacher who

is more experienced and knowledgeable in the use of

dreams as it relates to the craft of performing. With

the current explosion of interest in integrating the

sciences and the arts, Dreaming Together could not

come at a better time.”

—Professor William A. Finlay, Chair - Theatre and

Dance Department, Union College, Schenectady, and

Artistic Director Saratoga Shakespeare Company

“Jon’s techniques are elegantly simple with breathtaking

insight for students and experienced actors alike. It is

rare to have the messiness of our unconscious selves

made available to us as artists. Jon has made this

possible through his very specific work with dream

imagery. His skill as a playwright, along with sensitivity

and profound compassion, make his workshops a delight

for adults and students alike.”

—Kathleen Donohue, Associate Professor of Acting,

Emerson College

Printable flyers

Click here for a full color flyer, suitable for the

general public and use in the book trade, that

you can download and print.

Click here for a a full color flyer, designed for actors,

directors, and other theater artists, that you can

download and print.

Click here for a a full color flyer, suitable for dream

workers and other counselors, that you can

download and print.

Excerpts from the text

PROLOGUE: Click here for an excerpt from

Theater of Dreams: An Overview

in PDF format.

PART ONE: Click here for an excerpt from

Telling the Dream Story: Solo Dream Enactment

in PDF format.

PART TWO: Click here for an excerpt from

Creating the Dreamscape: Ensemble Dream

Enactment in PDF format.

PART THREE: Click here for an excerpt from

Making Dream Theater: Dramatic Dream

Enactment in PDF format.

PART FOUR: Click here for an excerpt from

Waking Dreams: Dream Enactment in

Daily Life in PDF format.

Dream Theater Images

Some Dream Theater images, from "The Dream Project," by the Brandeis Theater Company
© 2008


                

Masks and stylized movement create the Monkey King (left) and his monkey entourage (right).

A childhood dream is created by surrounding a young girl
with all her toys behind her (above). A hub cap and a
rolling chair (below) create a wild and comical runaway car
that is doomed to crash.

                                             Two star-crossed lovers say their
                                             reluctant goodbyes. (above)

Dream Cafe and publicity

Click here for a Boston Globe article about Jon's

dream and "The Wild Place."

Click here for a 2-sided poster in pdf format,

with information about the opening of the

Dream Café at Central Square Theater in

Cambridge, MA on October 23, 2008.

IASD Dreamtime full review

Click here for a PDF of the full review from

Dreamtime, the offical magazine of the

International Association for the Study of

Dreams.

About Jon Lipsky

• Jon Lipsky, M.F.A., is a full professor of Acting

& Playwriting at Boston University.


• In May, 2007, he won the Eliot Norton Award

for Best Director (Small Company) for his

collaboration with jazz musician Stan Strickland

on “Coming Up For Air—an Autojazzography,”

which opened in Boston in September, 2007 and

reopens in July, 2008.


• He has been Associate Artistic Director of the

Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard, and

playwright-in-residence at The Merrimac Repertory

Theater, TheaterWorks/Boston and Boston’s

Museum of Science.


• He studied Embodied Dreamwork with Robert

Bosnak, a diplomate of the C.G. Jung Institute and

past president of the International Association for

the Study of Dreams.


• Lipsky has led Dream Enactment groups in the

United States and abroad, and will be opening a

late-night cabaret theater based on dreams called

The Dream Café at the Central Square Theater in

Cambridge, MA, in the Fall, 2008.