"The Dream Thief is about a family faced with a crisis: the illness of the father. It deals with the threat of loss. There is an adult world and a children's world in a family. In crisis those worlds collide, and the play takes place in that collision area. The play is full of humourous and outrageous characters and has strong elements of fantasy" (Robert Schenkkan). Daddy has become mysteriously ill and his two pre-teen children, Susan and Jamie, are convinced that someone has stolen his dreams. In the hospital, they wait up one night to ambush the Dream Thief and, to their astonishment, they challenge and pursue a mysterious and terrifying cloaked stranger into the magical, and now dying, land of Nod. There, they must struggle with ravenous Bedbugs and fierce Night Terrors. They must answer the riddles of the deadly Night Hag. They must face their fears and put aside their differences as they work together to solve the mysteries of this strange and beautiful kingdom. Finally, in the ruined city of Morpheus, they must confront the real and surprising, Overlord of Evil. In the tradition of L'Engle, Tolkein and Baum, here is a new fantasy classic of great charm, humor and heart by the Pulitzer prize-winning author of "The Kentucky Cycle."
