Description
This is the inspiring story of someone who went from enduring an awkward, insecure childhood to found an internationally-acclaimed theatre company. It is the story of a group of young people who were mentally handicapped - some barely able to use the subway or keep themselves clean - who became accomplished professional performers. It is, above all, the story of a woman who dared to dream, and had the courage and resourcefulness to make her dream come true.
Diane Dupuy cajoled, coddled, criticized and finally carried the company she called the Famous People Players from a first disastrous performance in a fairground in 1974, to a fabulous reception in China, and rapturous reviews on Broadway some twelve years later.
The journey from a church basement in Toronto to New York's Great White Way was never easy. Diane Dupuy's struggle to instill her handicapped performers with the discipline to make black-light theatre work, and with a sense of dignity and self-respect, led them all on an emotional rollercoaster ride. Many never made it to the end. In Dare to Dream we share the anguish of those who failed, of those who returned to a bleak existence in group homes or on the streets. But we also share the joy and pride of the few who accepted the thunderous ovation on the proscenium of New York's Lyceum theatre.
Diane Dupuy holds nothing back in this candid account of the company's rise to fame. Her persistence in raising funds, her long and often hilarious campaign to secure the patronage of Liberace, her sometimes frightening experiences with her mercurial staff - all are revealed. But the chief impressions left by this remarkable book are of the bravery of the performers, the generosity of their many supporters from Paul Newman and Lorne Greene to Anne Murray, and finally, the near-miracle of a dream that seemed impossible to all but one woman, that was finally achieved.
ISBN:9781550131222
