Photo of students performing A Dream Like a Dream. Two women in foreground finding comfort in each other.

The Fall 2025 Theater Arts Production

A Dream Like a Dream

如夢之夢

A meteor of the Chinese contemporary theater told through the eyes of over 100 characters onstage, offstage, backstage, and beyond from Shanghai to Paris and back. Paths intertwine and aspirations collide along a spiral littered with life in an epic and immersive meditation on our most unexpected and unfathomable desires, passionate loves, losses, jubilance, loneliness, and laughter...

Date & Time

A play by Stan Lai

Directed by Jay Scheib with Xinyu Xu ’25 

Performed by MIT students and members of the MIT community: Mustafa Al-Obaidi, Daina August 黄静楠, Katrina Chan 陳欣寧, Andy Emmel, Rian Flynn 賴恩惠, Jue Gong 龚珏, Maggie Graseck, Jolie Han 韩叶, Yike (Coco) Huang 黄亦可, Becky Lin 林骧楠, Sophie Liu 刘奕岑, Yi Liu 刘艺, Joy Ma 马家悦, Alice Shao 邵欣竹, Chong (Julia) Tan 檀翀, Chuyan Wang 王楚妍, Angela Wu 武汶昕, Vera Wu 吴娱, Yan Xiao, Kevin Zimmer, and Audrey Zhu 朱笑言.

Directing Staff: Xinyu Xu ’25 许馨予, Alice Shao 邵欣竹, and Siyu He 何思妤; Set Design and Technical Direction: Joseph Lark-Riley; Assistant Set Design: Katrina Chan 陳欣寧; Lighting Design: Xinyu Xu 许馨予; Video Design: Anna Borou Yu 于博柔; Live Camera: Yanyi Liu 刘彦怡, Yiner Xu 徐胤尔, and Tina Wang 王禹听; Sound Design: Christian Frederickson; Sound Assistant: Sigal Minsky-Primus and Fang Lui 刘芳; Master Electrician: Kevin Fulton; Video System Engineer: Peter Torpey and Josh Higgason; Costume Stylist: Shanise DeSilva with Margalit Kelsey and Jonathan Fajors; Documentary Director: Fang Liu 刘芳; Assistant Documentary Director: Hanxiang Zhang 张瀚祥; Director of Production: Maggie Moore; Stage Management: Deb Acquavella; Assistant Stage Management: Joanna Su 苏炫烨; Graphics and Poster Design: Dan Pecci; Photography: Benjamin Rose and Fang Lui 刘芳; Front of House and Program Coordination: Yi Tu; Subtitles created and operated by: Siyu He 何思妤, Alice Shao 邵欣竹, and Yihan Ling 凌一涵; Light Board Operator: Theresa Qin 秦楚; QLAB operator: Fang Liu 刘芳; and Dramaturg: Yihan Ling 凌一涵.

Photo of students performing A Dream Like a Dream. Two women in foreground finding comfort in each other.

Each part was a stand-alone performance of a two-part epic play.

Audiences could see Part One, Part Two, or both parts either on the same day or on separate days.

Both of the “marathon,” two-part show days included a beautiful meal by Taiwanese restaurant, Mu Lan.

An overflow viewing room was required to accommodate audience attendance.

Pink and dark brown photo of a woman asleep and dreaming.

Production Video