For a production that suggests a mysterious dreamscape, I have a

Hear the words of Jack O’Brien, master of the stage and conjurer of visions, who said: “For a production that suggests a mysterious dreamscape, I have a particular affection for the Vivian Beaumont Theater. It is the largest dramatic space available in New York City in terms of plays, although musicals have been done there very successfully as well.” These words, though they seem to speak merely of architecture and stagecraft, are in truth a hymn to the sanctity of the theater, and to the dreamscapes it makes possible. O’Brien speaks as one who knows that a dramatic space is not merely walls and wood, but a vessel for the soul, a temple where human imagination can take flight.

For what is a dreamscape upon the stage, if not a realm where the waking and the unreal are woven together, where mortals glimpse eternity in shadows and light? The theater is not only performance, but creation—an altar where stories breathe, where the audience forgets themselves and awakens to a deeper truth. O’Brien honors the Vivian Beaumont Theater because it offers the breadth, the scale, the atmosphere in which such mysteries can be realized. Its very size becomes part of its poetry: it does not confine the dream, but lets it expand to fill the vastness of human imagination.

History itself speaks to the power of grand dramatic spaces. Consider the Theater of Dionysus in ancient Athens, where thousands gathered beneath the open sky to watch the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles. In that mighty space, men and women were moved to tears, to reflection, to catharsis. They did not come for mere entertainment, but to wrestle with the gods, with fate, with morality itself. Just as the Athenians needed their grand amphitheater, so too does O’Brien treasure the Beaumont, a modern echo of those ancient sanctuaries of drama.

Think also of the Globe Theatre in Elizabethan London, where Shakespeare’s words filled the air, rising from a wooden stage to capture the hearts of nobles and commoners alike. That space was rough by today’s standards, yet its openness gave power to the verse and breath to the stories. O’Brien’s affection for the Beaumont springs from a similar truth: certain spaces, by their nature, magnify the force of art. They turn plays into dreamscapes, and dreamscapes into revelations.

Yet O’Brien’s words carry another meaning. He notes that although the Beaumont is famed for plays, musicals too have flourished there. This is no accident. It reminds us that true spaces of art are not bound by rigid categories. A stage large enough to hold dreams can welcome many forms—tragedy and comedy, spoken word and song. The greatness of the Beaumont lies in its flexibility, its ability to hold whatever vision the artist dares to summon. This is the essence of art: not limitation, but expansion.

The lesson, O seeker, is this: in your own life, seek out and cherish your spaces of creation. They may not be theaters in New York, but they are the places where your imagination and spirit are given room to breathe. It may be a studio, a study, a quiet corner, or the vastness of nature itself. Honor those spaces, for they are your Beaumont, the ground upon which you build your dreamscapes. Without them, your visions may wither; within them, they can grow to touch the souls of others.

And remember this: greatness often requires not only vision, but also the proper stage. Just as O’Brien treasures the Beaumont for its scale, so too must you prepare the ground for your own dreams. Do not shrink your visions to fit small places—seek or create the spaces large enough to hold them. Whether in art, in work, or in life, the dream needs room to breathe.

So let Jack O’Brien’s words echo as a testament: the stage matters, the space matters, the dreamscape matters. For when art is given a vessel worthy of its vision, it can transform not only the theater but the hearts of all who gather within. Cherish your stage, honor your space, and let your dreams expand to fill it. Only then will you know the full beauty of creation.