Dream Street
Yes, life is unfair at times. But lack of ability in certain areas should not undermine the confidence in your abilities in other areas or prevent you from reaching your potential – this was the main message of the play “Dream Street.”
The main character of Hope is a wheelchair user both in real life and in the play. Her potential is seemingly limited by everyone including herself. How then can such a person, step into the role of the leading lady in a play?
Hope suddenly finds herself in a world filled with talking and singing cars. She is on even par here – everyone has wheels. Her interactions with these cars enroute her search for the elusive Dream Street, help regain her self confidence. Other messages are also addressed in the play eg: follow your heart’s calling in your choice of career, importance of compromise in a relationship and thinking about the long term consequences of an action instead of just focusing on immediate fun. The play was humorous and entertaining even while delivering these important messages.
The colorful cars which had interesting and varied personalities were used effectively to make for an interesting story. There is a pickup truck who has no extra options, an arrogant convertible who rides the fast lane, a limo married to a hilarious compact car, an ice cream truck that is disgruntled with her job and a number of checker cabs, just to name a few. A song can, many a time, convey the story much better than dialogue in a musical. The set design and colorful costumes, especially how they turned the legs of the performers into wheels, was very creative.
My talented friends from Venture Crew, Palmer Mitchell and Evan Bartz were part of the Production Team for this play performed by Presentation High School’s Repertory Group in San Jose. Palmer was in charge of Set Design and Evan was part of the Stage Crew. One has to truly admire the creativity and enthusiasm of the entire crew.