Directing alumna Nana Dakin '18 assisted tony-nominated director and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Leigh Silverman on Wild Goose Dreams an original play with music at The Public Theater which closed in December. Alumna Janelle Caso '17 was also the Assistant Stage Manager of the production. New York Magazine called the show “[w]himsical, powerful, and poignant. Quickly shifting and densely layered … visually delightful. A senses-tingling treat.”
After an initial run at The Public Studio, Wild Goose Dreams returned to The Public in a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse, where it had a critically-acclaimed run. The play is about two people from two cultures forced to choose between family and freedom.
Minsung is a “goose father,” which is the term for a South Korean man whose wife and daughter have moved to America for a better life. He’s lonely and escapes into the world wide web where he meets Nanhee, a young defector forced to leave her family behind in North Korea. Amidst the endless noise of the modern world, where likes and shares have taken the place of love and touch, Minsung and Nanhee try their best to be real for each other. But after a lifetime of division and separation, is connection possible?
Nana Dakin is a New York City based Thai-American director of new plays, classics and devised performance. Having grown up in multiple countries, her outlook is informed by diverse social and political experiences. Her work pursues social equity by examining the way culture is constructed and unsettling dormant biases. Dakin is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and currently a NYTW 2050 Directing Fellow. She is also a core member of B-Floor Theatre, Thailand’s vanguard physical theatre company.