The 2023 Workshop
DreamRunners was workshopped and presented at Rebel Theatre, Sydney, over several evenings in April 2023. Featuring a cast of 15 professional performers. The presentation of the entire libretto and score was made to a full house over several nights.
Detailed survey driven feedback was received. The response confirmed the show’s emotional impact, strong audience engagement and broad appeal, particularly its blend of contemporary music, humour, romance and Australian storytelling.
Insights gained through the workshop process have since been incorporated into the current libretto and score, resulting in a tighter more focused story ready for further development.
DreamRunners has undergone a significant evolution throughout its development since first conceived as a film script in 1992 and 2021 libretto.
What began as a story about national reconciliation and the fractured relationships between fathers and their children was forced to be changed into a mythic adventure. The 2023 workshop featured imaginary gods, spiritual forces and an Earth facing destruction at the hands of deities who had grown disillusioned with their failed human experiment.
Audience and cast feedback from the workshop proved invaluable. They loved the music, but found the story too complex. They identified that beneath the mythology lay a compelling and deeply personal story: the conflict between two fathers from opposite worlds and the young people struggling to define themselves.
The rewrites shifted the focus away from cosmic conflict towards the deeply human stories at the heart of the musical. While Gaia and the dreamlike landscapes preserve a sense of wonder and mythology, DreamRunners ultimately found its soul as a story of love, identity and reconciliation between parents and children and competing world views.
It is a story about the choices that define us, the people who shape us and the courage to follow our own path, even when it leads us into the unknown.