Dream Theatre

Jeremy Menekseoglu seems genuinely surprised, "It's so much more heartbreaking than I thought it was going to be. Ending a trilogy...you really want a satisfying ending." Menekseoglu, as artistic director of Dream Theatre Company, is gearing up for the opening of Orestes, the final chapter of the "Agon Trilogy" a group of plays structured around the Ancient Greek triptych of Aeschylus' Oresteia. This final installment celebrates a kind of high-water mark for the small theater located in the Pilsen neighborhood, which has becoming increasingly engaged in revisiting the ancient Greeks when producing their unique shows.

Dream Theatre Company thrives on its demolition of the "fourth wall," the famous concept of theatrical realism in which the audience is not spoken to directly but encouraged to imagine that covering the front the stage is an invisible fourth wall separating the actors from the audience. Dream Theatre strives to discard this concept in an effort to heighten and explore the relationship between performers and audience in an honest way. Menekseoglu compares this interaction directly to the individual personal relationships we cultivate in our daily lives, " You have to have the courage to tell them that you love them first. And then, they can respond. That's what we do."

To this end, the actors rehearse speaking directly to the audience, a task which is perhaps surprising in its difficulty and intimacy. Furthermore, as soon as audience members enter the theater, they are immersed in the world of the play, in some instances being spoken to directly as they are lead to their seats.

Interestingly, Menekseoglu, rejects the current trend of "Promenade" productions in which the audience walks around with the actors in the space. " I rarely do Promenade because I think it's uncomfortable for the audience. Our seats are probably the most comfortable seats in the city; it's the only way the audience can get really involved."

Since their first production in the summer of 2003, all but two shows have been directed by Artistic Director Menekseoglu, and all have been written by him. He tends to take smaller roles in the plays but even that changed in the past year when he took the titular role in Agamemnon. It is interesting then that the other essential feature of Dream Theatre Company is its commitment to providing strong roles for female actors. Every year they host a short play festival entitled Theatre of Women in which all the roles are female. Menekseoglu admits that Dream Theatre's commitment to leveling the gender playing field doesn't appear in any official mission statement. And the irony of a company lead by a man who writes the plays, directs most of them, and frequently acts being billed as a feminist theater is not lost on him, "I just feel presumptuous saying something like that."

Yet in an astonishing development s part of Breast Cancer Awareness month in the spring of 2011, seven theaters have signed on to simultaneously produce Menekseoglu's Ismene, first produced by Dream Theatre Company in 2004. Not to be outdone, Dream Theatre will be joining in on the festival, dubbed the Ismene Project. It's a dream come true.

To find out more about Dream Theatre Company you can visit their website or become a fan on Facebook. While you're there, check out the Facebook page for the Ismene Project.

Benno Nelson

You can read more of Theatre In Chicago contributor Benno Nelson's writing at The@er (http://the-at-er.blogspot.com)

Full Storefrontal

Read the other articles in Benno Nelson's "Full Storefrontal" series that focuses on small theatre companies around Chicago on the Full Storefrontal page.