Dream of Autumn | Norway
Playwright – Jon Fosse
Translator – Sarah Cameron Sunde
Director – Warner Crocker
Partner – Center for Scandinavian Studies, North Park University
Talkback led by Dr. Chad Eric Bergman, Director of the Center for Scandinavian Studies at North Park University
Synopsis - Dream of Autumn is a love story and a family drama. In a seemingly serendipitous moment, a man and a woman meet in a graveyard. They knew one another in a past life, and perhaps carried a longing for each another. A whole new life unfolds after the encounter, tense new scenes including the two of them, his ex-wife and his parents drive the narrative, with the presence of death giving contour to the love and life within the play. Dream of Autumn is a timeless poetic story about 'the everyday' and miraculous.
"What if death comes to you like a lover? The lover against whom all others were measured, who tempts you to let go of all responsibilities. You might be surprised to learn you’d fight this seduction, which is perfectly designed for you. Dream of Autumn is a look at what we cling to when it’s time to go." - Karla Boos, Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh
All staged readings begin at 6 PM followed by a talkback.
Performances are FREE to the public and reservations are not required. DONATIONS help keep the festival free!
Jon Fosse
Photo by Tom A. Kolstad
Jon Olav Fosse was born 1959 in Haugesund on the Norwegian west coast. His immense œuvre written in Nynorsk Norwegian and spanning a variety of genres consists of a wealth of plays, novels, short stories, poetry, essays, children’s books, and translations. His work has been translated into more than forty languages and he is today one of the most widely performed playwrights in the world.
Fosse has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Hedda Award, the most prestigious award in Norwegian theatre, and Austria’s Nestroy Theatre Prize for Best Play. In 2005 Jon Fosse was made a Commander in the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and in 2007 he was made a Knight in France’s National Order of Merit. Jon Fosse was awarded the International Ibsen Award in 2010, the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2015, and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023.
Sarah Cameron Sunde
Sarah Cameron Sunde is an interdisciplinary artist, director, and translator working at the intersection of performance, video, conceptual, and public art. She is internationally known as Jon Fosse’s primary American-English theater translator and director, having translated/directed his U.S. debut production in 2004 and four subsequent U.S. premiere productions over the next ten years in New York City and Pittsburgh: NIGHT SINGS ITS SONGS, DEATHVARIATIONS, SA KA LA, A SUMMER DAY, DREAM OF AUTUMN. Sunde co-founded Oslo Elsewhere with Anna Gutto and the Translation Think Tank with Marie-Louise Miller in 2004, specifically to introduce Jon Fosse's work to American audiences and to advocate for American-English translations. In her current practice, Sunde investigates scale and duration in relation to the human body, water, ecological crisis and deep time. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2021 to complete her series of nine performances and video artworks made on six continents: 36.5 / A DURATIONAL PERFORMANCE WITH THE SEA (2013 – 2022 and ongoing). She was Deputy Artistic Director of New Georges for 16 years (2001-2017), co-founded Works on Water (2017-present), and is currently a NYSCA / NYFA Fellow and a Cultural Leader with the World Economic Forum. SarahCameronSunde.com + www.osloelsewhere.org
Warner Crocker is delighted to return to one of his favorite gigs, The International Voices Project. Before returning to Chicago in 2013 he served as the Artistic Director of Wayside Theatre in Virginia for 15 seasons. Before that stint on the East Coast he worked for 20 years in Chicago Theatre as Artistic Director for Absolute Theatre Company, New Tuners Theatre, and Pegasus Players, and also directed for other Chicago theatres. He has produced and directed more plays than he can count, is the author of several, and has won a few awards along the way. Recent regional and Chicago directing gigs include The Lehman Trilogy, Ink, The Play That Goes Wrong; Shear Madness; Peter Pan, the US premiere of Diamonds and Divas; Junk; Pinocchio; Bunny Bunny Gilda Radner, A Sort of Love Story; The Bridges of Madison County; Boing Boing; Barnum; The Seven-Percent Solution, and The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes.
The Center for Scandinavian Studies at North Park University Endowed by the Hugo A. Anderson Chair in Scandinavian Studies in 1982 and created in 1984, the Center for Scandinavian Studies (CSS) at North Park University has firmly established itself as a major focal point for Scandinavian academic and cultural interests in Chicago. The CSS sponsors visiting professors, lectures, concerts, and exhibits, bringing many talented and accomplished Scandinavians to the city of Chicago. Dr. Chad Eric Bergman, professor of theatre, serves as the director for the center.