I've just returned from Philadelphia and from seeing (twice) a beautiful production of "Gossamer" at the Peoples Light Theater.  I shouldn't be surprised at this anymore, but I continue to be amazed at how theater people---all of them: director, designers, actors---can take words and make magic of them.

These photographs were taken by Mark Garvin (you can see others on the theater website: www.peopleslight.org)

This is Littlest, played by Maggie  Fitzgerald, showing Thin Elderly (actor Christopher Patrick Mullen) how gentle and delicate her touch is....

...and here Littlest prepares to bestow a dream on John, the abused boy (played by Daniel Dychala)

This is the fourth production I have seen of this play, and each one has its own individual feel. I've seen the little boy John, a feisty redhead in Portland, Oregon... played by a young woman, in Chicago.  I've seen Toby, the dog, played by a puppet in Milwaukee and by a teenage age boy in Portland.  I've seen different lighting, heard different sounds effects and music.  The Heap---the place where the dreamgivers live--has been literally underground (Milwaukee, where the actors climbed up from holes in the stage) and here, in Philadelphia, inside a complex jungle-gym-like structure where they climbed and contorted and dangled and arranged themselves. It all works.

I find myself thinking about writing another play. I even have one in mind. (Stan? Are you reading this?)