playbill vip

No More Yielding Than a Dream

Dreams are powerful things. Dreams make Lego creatures come to life, they grow little boys and girls into doctors and firefighters and paleontologists, and they power the creation of vaccinations for worldwide pandemic diseases. Never discount the value of a dream's yield.

This production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is particularly potent for me as I sit on the precipice of a 31-year-old dream that is finally about to come true. Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you that they have heard me say - maybe more than once - that I have ached to go to graduate school from the day I received my BA in English in 1991. But life had other plans for me. I worked while my husband earned his degree, homeschooled our four children for nearly a decade, and taught English, drama, journalism, band, computer science, and even accounting, in high schools as one year melded into the next.

Then the pandemic hit. My personal life took a turn, and my professional life as a teacher spun around like a pinwheel in a hurricane. It was time to realize the dream, and I dared to dream big.

In just a few short weeks, I'll be moving to Scotland to begin work toward an MFA in classical and contemporary acting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I'm selling my house, selling or giving away almost everything I own, and I'm following my dream.

In act one of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Titania, queen of the fairies, challenges her lord the king. Everything that is wrong in our lives, she argues, "comes / From our debate, from our dissension; / We are their parents and original." Oberon immediately counters with a surprisingly logical solution: "Do you amend it then; it lies in you."

The answer to our dreams is to stop the endless cycle of self-doubt. We must stop debating with ourselves about whether or not we can or should follow our dreams, whether or not we're worth the investment in ourselves. If we are the parents and originals of our dreams, then it lies in us to amend them and make our dreams come true.

It lies in you. And it lies in me. I'll send you a postcard.

~Meredith