Ilse Castro Corona - Life is a Dream

Life is a Dream / Sueños de Libertad” is a contemporary, ensemble-based adaptation of the classic Spanish play La vida es sueño by Calderón de la Barca (1400)

In this reimagining, Ilse Castro Corona and collective return to the myth of Segismundo, a prince imprisoned from birth by his father, King Basilio, who fears the boy’s potential for tyranny as foretold by prophecy. Locked away, denied rights, and stripped of identity, Segismundo is raised in isolation — and eventually becomes the very danger his father feared. But was this outcome written in the stars, or forged by the cage that contained him?

Through three distinct Segismundos—each embodied by a different performer—we explore how identity is shaped under confinement, and how systems of control manufacture the very monsters they claim to prevent. At the center stands one Basilio, a symbol of institutional fear and suppression: the parent, the state, the law, the myth of order.

The performance weaves text, movement, and testimony, blurring the boundaries between lived experience and poetic narrative. Calderón's classic is used as a mirror to examine contemporary cages: the carceral system, inherited trauma, the immigrant experience, and the elusive promise of the American Dream. What happens when dreams are policed? Who decides what freedom means?

In a world built by Basilios—who fear our wildness, our voice, our freedom—we ask:

What is life? A frenzy, an illusion?

Or is it a dream worth reclaiming?

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Life is a Dream Ensemble is an international collective of artists reimagining classical works through bold political and mythical lenses. We bring together diverse voices, bodies, and perspectives to give new resonance to timeless stories—defying tradition, embodying transformation, and making space for voices often unheard. Our work is urgent, poetic, and alive: a dialogue between the past and the present, between myth and the world we live in

Ilse Castro Corona (director) is a multidisciplinary artist and creative director whose practice bridges theater, film, and media. Her technique merges actor training with political and poetic storytelling, weaving myth into contemporary performance. With international experience across Mexico, the U.S., Canada, Indonesia, and Germany, she creates works that move between stage and screen, myth and reality.