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Production Details[]

Directed by: Timna Ranon

Written by: Timna Ranon

Based on a Story by: Barbara Paul

Andrea Caldwell/Director: Carolyn Seymour

Syd Grossinger: John Cedar

Otto Shrog: Lou Cutell

Didi: Shannon Kriska

Joe D'Amico: Dawson Mays

Person on Telephone/Voice: Catherine Battistone

Plot[]

A stagehand manages to trap actors in his dream where they are forced into his game.

ACT I[]

Director Andrea Caldwell is on the phone with an unnamed woman, demanding to know where Syd is.  She is angry and somewhat confused and the lady on the phone is unable to give her any informaation.  Andrea mentions it is unlike Syd to not show up.  The lady on the phone mentions that Syd is not the first disappearance as D'Amico had disappeared first.  Andrea assumes the comment is a shot at her and she tells the lady on the phone to not hold her breath and hangs up. 

Still angry over what happened on the phone, Andrea yells at Otto, the maintenance man, who is reading a magazine.  She yells at him for not cleaning up the studio and he apologizes to her, appearing to be intimidated.  Otto apologizes as Andrea takes his magazine.  

As Otto is cleaning, Andrea throws his magazine on the floor.  Otto gives Andrea a dirty look and the magazine comes into view.  The magazine mentions an actress named D'idi who has also disappeared.  

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A new role for Andrea.

Suddenly, as Otto is staring, a strange light flashes in the room and pans through the studio.  Andrea finds herself on the set, dressed in a Swiss girl's costume.  It takes her a moment to realize that it is odd for this to be the case.  

As Andrea wonders where she is and what is happening, she hers Otto's voice.  He asks her how long she is going to stand there looking like that.  He asks where his order is and a serving tray appears in Andrea's hands.  Almost robotically, Andrea is forced to walk up a flight of stairs and then towards a table.  Otto is sitting at the table, this time with a head of hair and D'idi sitting beside him.  

Otto begins to verbally berate Andrea like she had done to him only a few moments before.  He asks her why she isn't doing her job.  When Andrea tries to pour Otto some hot water, she accidentally pours it into his lap and he yells at her.  Otto snaps his fingers and a man, Syd, shows up and walks up to also serve Otto.  As he walks up, Andrea mechanically walks backwards.  Syd hands a Rose to D'idi and apologizes to Otto when Otto asks how he could have hired someone as incompetent as Andrea.

As Andrea looks on confused, Otto explains to D'idi that Syd was a doctor, but he was so incompetent that he had to quit his job and become a Maitre D.  D'idi appears to be fascinated as Otto explains that due to Syd's incompetence that he will now lose his job as maitra d as well.  At this moment, Andrea realizes who Syd is and begins to approach him.  She explains to Syd who she is, while he seems to ignore her.

Otto looks somewhat confused as Andrea approaches Syd.  As she continues to question Syd as to his wheareabouts, Andrea suddenly disappears.  Syd turns around and sees her standing further behind him.  They both run at each other in slow motion until Otto snaps his fingers.  Syd vanishes and Andrea is frozen in place.  

ACT II[]

Andrea is no longer frozen in place as she hears Otto speaking to D'idi again.  He is telling her to buy shoe laces, although she explains she never uses them anymore.  As Andrea turns and looks toward the voices she hears, Otto is now wearing a light colored suit.  Syd is dressed as a street vendor selling shoe laces.  Otto insists that they buy shoe laces because Syd is too incompetent to have any other job and it would be

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Syd's demotion.

merciful for them to help him out.  

Andrea begins to approach Syd again, trying to talk to him.  When she asks him what is wrong, Otto turns to Andrea and tells her that Syd is fine.  Andrea finally gets angry and asks Otto who he is.  This sends Otto into a rage and he tells Andrea that she will only speak when spoken to and somehow this prevents Andrea from speaking anymore.  Mechanically and against her will, Andrea walks backwards into a corner.

Otto turns to Syd and asks him why he said he will never amount to anythig, to which D'idi is surprised to hear.  Although Syd apologizes, the three of them bicker about it.  Finally Syd contests Otto's brilliance by remarking that he cannot write decent lines and asks for permission to leave, albeit saracastically.  Smoke fills the room and Otto and D'idi vanish.

Once Otto and D'idi are gone, Andrea and Syd appear to be themselves again.  Now in plain clothes, Andrea questions Syd as to what is going on.  She tells him if this is a practical joke, she will strangle him with her bare hands.  Syd insists that it cannot be his play because of how dreadful the dialogue is.  He tells Andrea that he thinks they are prisoner's in Otto's fantasy.  Andrea finally remembers that Otto is the janitor that sh was yelling at earlier.  They assume that the fantasy is on the movie set but are unsure why.  Syd has no idea how long he has been a prisoner is Otto's fantasy, although he says it seems like forever.  Neither has any idea as to whether they will ever get out of the fantasy.

ACT III[]

A mist swirls around Andrea and Syd and they find themselves back in servants clothes, ready to serve Otto and D'idi again.  A man wearing overalls walks up to Andrea and grabs her, trying to kiss her.  When she struggles, Otto (who is now with D'idi and dressed for tennis) orders the man to let Andrea go.  Otto then

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Otto the avengers.

gets in a fighting stance, to which the man finds amusing.  Otto easily wins a fight against the younger man.

Andrea is not impressed with the fight, thinking it was phony.  When she turns and looks at the man in overalls, though, he is bruised and bleeding.  He assures Andrea that it is no problem and that the cuts and bruises heal in about ten minutes.

Otto then approaches Andrea and helps her up.  He asks her to come with him, but she refuses and insults him.  As Otto vanishes, D'idi approaches Andrea and tries to fight her.  Andrea explains to D'idi how stupid the plot of the fantasy is as now Otto has her and D'idi fighting over him.  D'idi backs off and tells Andrea that although the plot is bad, at least the men were fighting over her.  

D'idi begins to explain to Andrea her experience in the fantasy.  She is only doing what Otto is forcing her to do.  D'idi tells Andrea that she is also a prisoner in the fantasy and has no idea where they are.  Otto appears and tries to drag D'idi away.  Andrea calls for Syd and he comes over to help.  Then the man in overalls comes to help as well.  While Otto pulls on D'idi's arm, the three others pull on her other arm.  For the first time Otto appears to be struggling.  Otto eventually lets go and vanishes.

ACT IV[]

Andrea, Syd and D'idi are talking with the man in the overalls, who reveals he is Joe D'amico, the first perso to disappear.  Joe tells them that he used to work on a cruise ship and Otto wanted Joe to get him a job on one.  When Joe had told Otto he couldn't handle it, Otto began pulling people into his fantasy to prove how macho he can really be.  

Although no one knows how they arrived in the fantasy, all four seem to think it makes perfect sense that they are in one.  Syd notices that once Andrea arrive

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Trying to escape.

d, Otto has had a lot less control over the fantasy.  He deduces that four people might be too much for Otto to control.  

Excited, Andrea suggests that they are not in a fantasy, but are in a dream.  Although the others appear skeptical she explains why it makes sense.  There are long pauses between scenes, none of them know how they got there and it feels like they are moving through molasses.  

Syd suggests that Otto cannot be dreaming the entire time if he is asleep.  Since a person only dreams for a fraction of time when they are sleeping, when Otto disappears that must mean he is not sleeping.  In order for them to get out of the dream, they need to wait for one of these periods and then wake him up.  This would, in turn, free them.  Andrea also suggests that the four of them could sleep and beat Otto at his own game.

The four get up to go and hear a crack of thunder.  The lighting gets dark and all four have problems moving.  As they turn to look at each other, they are back in their servant clothes.  Andrea finds Otto sleeping on a chair and shakes him until he wakes up.

With a start, Andrea is back on the set of the play and out of the dream.  She looks over and sees Otto as he was before the dreams.  Otto gets up, tries not to look Andrea in the eyes and cowers.  Andrea realizes that she needs to find some sleeping pills so she can catch Otto in a dream.  She finds some in her purse, takes them and falls asleep.  As she sleeps, Joe is at another part of the theater and he is already asleep.

ACT V[]

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A dream unrealized.

In the dream, Andrea turns and sees Otto dressed as a waiter.  He apologizes to Andrea and tells her that Captain D'amico requests her presence on the bridge.  Andrea turns and sees Joe and D'idi standing together.  Futher back, Syd is standing at the wheel of the ship.  Andrea realizes she is in Joe's dream now.

Notes[]

1.  "Dream Girl" is considered to be one of the more confusing episodes by many fans.

2.  At several times the score is similar to the music from the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" films.

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