The Dream of the Burning Boy
THE STORY: Since the sudden death of his favorite student, high-school teacher Larry Morrow has been falling asleep at his desk and dreaming. The school’s guidance counselor is hanging inspirational posters designed to help everyone “process their emotions.” The student’s sister and friends—more agitated and hormonal than usual—find little solace in Dante’s Inferno. And as Larry’s dreams intensify, a shocking secret is exposed. A secret that will change everything. Searing yet surprisingly funny, THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY is about finding the strength to move on…and the courage to live without regret.
“…sensitive…surprisingly humorous…Read has an ear for economical, real-sounding dialogue, creating believable and moving characters.” —Associated Press.
“…eloquent, affecting…moving.” —The New York Times.
“David West Read doesn’t just summon one vision of [grief]: he unlocks six. All different and yet all the same, they drive this lean…work that plumbs bottomless sadness as few plays in recent memory have…[Read] lets these people tell their own stories in their own words—both those they can spit out and, even more frequently, those they can’t. The results aren’t always pretty or precisely ordered, but death’s nature is to impose temporary disorder on those left behind. It’s in how the remaining characters learn that, and learn to progress beyond it, that is the real point.” —Talkin’ Broadway.
