"Sueño" will catch American Players Theatre audiences by surprise

Aaron R. Conklin, Madison Magazine

Nearly every year, Brenda DeVita, the artistic director of American Players Theatre (APT), throws her company’s audiences an unexpected curveball. Tucked into the now-familiar mix of Shakespeare and more modern playwrights, there’s a wild card that raises eyebrows. And this year, it comes in the form of a play based on a fairy tale from Spain’s Golden Age.

APT has launched its second wave of summer shows with “Sueño,” a play based on DonPedro Calderon de la Barca’s classic tale “Life is a Dream.” “Sueño” focuses on a Prince (played By Nathan M. Ramsey) imprisoned by his father (David Allen Anderson) because of a prophecy that he’ll one day grow to become a destructive tyrant. The King changes his mind, rolls the dice and frees his son just to see whether fate really trumps free will. Chaos — and comedy — naturally ensues.

But the plot’s only part of the reason “Sueño” is likely to raise audience eyebrows. The play’s colorful, astrologically themed costume design might be the most arresting thing you’ve seen since APT sent Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” through the Dr. Seuss blender three years ago.

“We focused on the characters,” says Marcela Lorca, the play’s Minneapolis-based director, of her vision for “Sueño.” “They’re very archetypal, and that was our guiding light. The King, the Princess, the Nobleman, the Clown, each of them is very iconic.”

“Sueño"’s script is packed with references to astrology and fate, which sent costume designer Raquel Adorno to track down “The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images,” a massive visual encyclopedia that deconstructs the meaning of symbols across a variety of cultures.

“All of the symbols in the play were in the book,” says Adorno. “So I suggested each of the characters as a Tarot card.” Lorca instantly fell in love with the idea of embracing a Tarot-like iconography.

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