After the success of Coulrophobia (Fear of Clowns), Notre Dame University-Louaize (NDU) instructor Gaby Milky returns to the stage with an all-NDU production of his play Dreams Are Illegal.
Conceived as a prequel to Coulrophobia – and set in the same universe of Blinktonasia – Dreams Are Illegal follows the story of Fiddles O’Malley, a banker and mayor of Rainbow Realm, as he tries to stamp out all dreams from his community. A dreamer, called Nameless, resurfaces to inject a tinge of hope back into the world. With its fairytale names, and musical renditions, Dreams Are Illegal may at first come across as deceptively whimsical. Beneath the surface, however, lurks a subversive quality which underpins current themes of corruption and abuse of power.
Featuring a cast and crew comprised entirely of NDU students and alumni, the play had both new and returning members working their hardest to bring it to life. Rehearsals took six months, Milky said: “Some of [the cast] had two separate characters, and for them to come out of their old characters from Coulrophobia, and into new ones took them a while.”
Dreams Are Illegal ran for a total of four nights, two at NDU’s Issam Fares Hall, and two more at the Beirut Evangelical School. “We gave it our all,” said Milky, reminiscing about the performances. “Issam Fares Hall has about 300 seats, and the Beirut Evangelical School has 200 seats. The turnout at Issam Fares Hall was around 250, and BESGB’s turnout was around 150 which was very good.”
Speaking to the play’s success, Milky mentioned that, while there are plans to take Blinktonasia “elsewhere” that was all he could say about it for the moment. Needless to say, NDU will be keeping our eyes out for the next installment.