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

Our challenging times call for learning to dream together — quickly! Lipsky offers a unique way to re-enter dreams that brings us to the source of everyone's urgently needed creativity.

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

"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 psychological 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

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.

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)

Click here to see an article about Jon's "Where the Wild Things Are."

Click here for a PDF of the full review of Dreaming Together from Dreamtime, the offical magazine of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.

Click here to see an article on Jon's dream-theater work in Bostonia

The late Jon Lipsky, M.F.A., was 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.

He worked as Associate Artistic Director of the Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard, and playwright-in-residence at TheaterWorks/Boston, The Merrimac Repertory Theater, 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 led Dream Enactment groups in the United States and abroad, and operated a late-night cabaret theater based on dreams called The Dream Café at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge, MA.