Twelve Dreams
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- Charles Hatrick
- Emma Hatrick
- Jenny
- Professor
| Twelve Dreams | |
|---|---|
| Written by | James Lapine |
| Characters |
|
| Date premiered | December 22, 1981 |
| Place premiered | The Public Theater, New York City, New York |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
Twelve Dreams is a 1981 play by James Lapine that was inspired by a case study contained in Carl Jung's 1964 book Man and His Symbols. 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.[1] A more complete version was performed in 1981–1982, and it was revived in 1995.[2]
Set in 1936-37 in a New England university town, Emma presents her practicing psychiatrist and lecturer father with a Christmas gift, a handwritten collection detailing 12 of her dreams.[2]
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.[3]