''Twelve Dreams'' is a 1981 play by

James Lapine James Elliot Lapine (born January 10, 1949) is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for ''Into the Woods'', '' Falsettos'', and '' Passion''. He ...

that was inspired by a case study contained in

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phi ...

's 1964 book ''

Man and His Symbols ''Man and His Symbols'' is the last work undertaken by Carl Jung before his death in 1961. First published in 1964, it is divided into five parts, four of which were written by associates of Jung: Marie-Louise von Franz, Joseph L. Henderson, A ...

''. The case concerns a 10-year-old girl who gave her father, a psychiatrist, an unusual Christmas present — a handwritten booklet describing twelve dreams that she had had when she was eight years old. The play was first performed as a work-in-progress in 1978. A more complete version was performed in 1981–1982, and it was revived in 1995.Canby, Vincent
Theater Review; Fleshing Out Jung's Theory
''The New York Times'', June 9, 1995

Plot

Set in 1936-37 in a

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

university town, Emma presents her practicing psychiatrist and lecturer father with a Christmas gift, a handwritten collection detailing 12 of her dreams. Charles struggles to make sense of the dreams, torn between his role as father and psychiatrist. He enlists the help of a visiting European psychiatrist. The professor is intrigued by the dreams, remarking that they are those of an older person facing their mortality. Interspersed in Emma's dreams are real-life figures such as her best friend, Jenny, Rindy, a neurotic patient of her father's, her ballet teacher, Miss Banton as well as Sanford, her father's apprentice.

Productions

The play premiered at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on 22 December 1981 and ended on 31 January 1982.

Off-Broadway (1981-1982)

Cast * James Olson as Charles Hatrick *Olivia Laurel Mates as Emma Hatrick *Marcel Rosenblatt as Jenny * Stefan Schnabel as Professor Jan Rubeš *

Thomas Hulce Thomas Edward Hulce (; born December 6, 1953) is an American actor and theater producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Academy Award-winning film ''Amadeus (film), Amadeus'' (1984), as well as the roles of ...

as Sanford Putnam *

Carole Shelley Carole Augusta Shelley (16 August 1939 – 31 August 2018)Bartlett, Rhett"Carole Shelley, One of the Pigeon Sisters From 'The Odd Couple,' Dies at 79"''The Hollywood Reporter'', 1 September 2018

as Dorothy Trowbridge *

Valerie Mahaffey Valerie Mahaffey (born June 16, 1953) is an American character actress and producer. She began her career starring in the NBC daytime soap opera '' The Doctors'' (1979–81), for which in 1980 she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outst ...

as Miss Banton * Stacy Glick as Rindy

Off-Broadway revival (1995)

The revival premiered at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

on 11 May 1995 and ended on 6 August 1995. Lapine was the director. Cast *

Harry Groener Harry Groener (born September 10, 1951) is a German-born American actor and dancer, perhaps best known for playing Mayor Wilkins in ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (seasons 3, 4 and 7). Early life Groener was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, West German ...

as Charles Hatrick * Mischa Barton as Emma Hatrick *

Kathleen Chalfant Kathleen Ann Chalfant (née Bishop; born January 14, 1945) is an American actress. She has appeared in many stage plays, both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, as well as making guest appearances on television series, including the '' Law & Order'' ...

as Jenny *

Jan Rubeš Jan Ladislav Rubeš CM (6 June 1920 – 29 June 2009) was a Czech-Canadian bass opera singer and actor. Life and career Rubeš was born in Volyně, Czechoslovakia, to Ružena (née Kellnerová) and Jan Rubeš. Not long after World War II, ...

as Professor * Matt Ross as Sanford Putnam *

Donna Murphy Donna Murphy (born March 7, 1959) is an American actress, best known for her work in musical theater. A five-time Tony Award nominee, she has twice won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical: for her role as Fosca in '' Passion'' (1994–1995 ...

as Dorothy Trowbridge * Meg Howrey as Miss Banton *Brittany Boyd as Rindy Crew *Original music by Allen Shawn *Choreography by

Lar Lubovitch Lar Lubovitch (born April 9, 1943) is an American choreographer. He founded his own dance company, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in 1968. Based in New York City, the company has performed in all 50 American states as well as in more than 30 cou ...

*Set design by

Adrianne Lobel Adrianne Lobel is an American scenic designer and producer for theatre, opera, and dance known for her "very daring and creative sets."Greenspon, Jaq. "Acting" (1996). McGraw-Hill Professional. , p. 82. Life and career Lobel was born and raised i ...

*Costume designs by

Martin Pakledinaz Martin Pakledinaz (September 1, 1953 – July 8, 2012) was an American costume designer for stage and film. He won his Tony Awards for designing the costumes for '' Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and the 2000 revival of ''Kiss Me, Kate'', which ...

*Lighting by

Peter Kaczorowski Peter Kaczorowski (born 1956) is an American theatrical lighting designer. Kaczorowski was born in Buffalo, New York. He is credited with lighting designs for Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well extensive work in opera. He has been nominated ...

Reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

gave the 1995 revival a favorable review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', saying that Barton "has a sweet gravity as the doomed Emma," as well as affirming that:

Mr. Lapine has produced an elaborate theatrical meditation on Jung's work in which Emma, Charles, the Professor and all the other characters in the play behave like people in a case history. Everybody is reduced to symptoms. No character has more reality than any of the phantoms that inhabit Emma's dreams, which, with a good deal of directorial skill, are woven into the play's action.

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reviewed the 1995 revival and were unanimous in their support of the "extraordinary" play, "The company, perfectly cast underplays admirably. The result is itself a riveting dream which, for all its unsettling animal imagery, never loses its focus on the people at its core; it's an enormously empathic evening."Twelve Dreams
" ''Variety'', June 8, 1995

Brad Leithauser Brad E. Leithauser (born February 27, 1953) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and teacher. After serving as the Emily Dickinson Lecturer in the Humanities at Mount Holyoke College and visiting professor at the MFA Program for Poets & Writ ...

of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' wrote that Lapine "does an adroit job of interweaving day event and night-revelation." He continues:

The dream sequences are spookily compelling and splendidly differentiated. The play has the true fierceness of dream logic - the sense that you are watching events that unfold that are both unpredictable and ineluctable. Five musicians pilot us from one real to the other, artfully building towards songs that never emerge.

Awards

won an Obie Award in 1982 for her performance in the 1981-82 production.Twelve Dreams
Internet Off-Broadway Database. Retrieved on 24 December 2011

References

{{Reflist Off-Broadway plays 1981 plays Carl Jung Plays by James Lapine