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Dreamland Theater
Categories: Arts & Entertainment Performing Arts Arts & Entertainment Music Venues Nightlife Music Venues Performing Arts, Music Venues [Edit]
26 N WashingtonYpsilanti, MI 48197
Neighborhood: Downtown Ypsilanti
(734) 657-2337
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Music:
- DJ, Live
- Happy Hour:
- No
- Smoking:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Good For Dancing:
- Yes
5 reviews for Dreamland Theater
5 reviews in English
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Review from Tara R.
Chattanooga, TN
12/29/2009
The first thing I thought of when I entered the Dreamland Theater was the great scene from "All About Eve" when the Hollywood-bound director lectures Eve about "the theater"
"Want to know what the Theater is? A flea circus. Also opera. Also rodeos, carnivals, ballets... Donald Duck, Ibsen, and The Lone Ranger, Sarah Bernhardt, Poodles ....It may not be your Theater, but it's Theater of somebody, somewhere"
The Dreamland may not be your theater, but it's there, in a skinny, shabby little room in downtown Ypsi, providing puppet shows for kids and adults alike. They offer other shows, too, but I was there for the puppets.
The first thing I saw was a haphazard crowd of kids and adults looking for seats. There are four church pews in the front and a two row riser in the back (no more than 30 seats total, I'd guess). Naturally, the stage is up front, but there is also a projection screen to the right. Eventually, the lights dimmed and ""A Puppet History of Ypsilanti" commenced.
The show began with shadow puppets on the rear-lit screen. Then the narrative continued on stage. The beautiful and brightly colored hand-made curtain opened to reveal wooden puppets and painted backdrops. The curtain would close between scenes and the puppetmaster would drop a new bit of scenery or a different puppet in the mix, then reopen the curtain. I really enjoyed the creativity and technical prowess that went into the multimedia performance. They used a pre-recorded dialogue track and operated the puppets in sync. This backfired at times, like when the soundtrack skipped (repeatedly), but considering that there seemed to be just one guy running the show, and it only cost five bucks, I was pretty impressed.
The writing was underwhelming. The story was informative (Phyllis Diller is from Ypsi - how did I not know that?!?!?), but it was obnoxiously self-referential at times, and probably went over many of the kids' heads. I wish the playwright had left out the stuff about himself and just stuck to talking about Ypsi.
At the end of the show, my companion referred to the forty minute program as "janky"and okay, yeah, it was. But I'm so excited that someone bothered to build a stage and some seats, fashion a curtain and some puppets, add a broken CD player and sell tickets - just footsteps from my front door! It may not be everyone's theater, but it's theater for me.Listed in: Plant Me in Ypsilanti
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Review from Sam G.
Something about this place is one part magical old-timey performance space and the other half is grimy hole in the wall. Pretty great combination if you ask me.
As others have mentioned, not the greatest sound for louder shows. But they do bring through lots of interesting little projects - mostly local - my favorite so far has been the burlesque show - or Forest's one-man-band "Skate Laws" - or "suicide by cop" (a punk band that perhaps takes itself a bit too seriously but is for the thrashing about and actually pretty good).
Unfortunately, finding out that these shows exist is a whole 'nother issue. Their website calendar usually just shows the puppet shows which is a great source of frustration for me. You'll have to either know people involved in the productions or search for DIY posters around Ypsi (The Ugly Mug usually is a good source for those things).
Pretty sure all the shows geared toward adults are BYOB (haven't seen a sign yet that says a certain show is requesting it not be). So grab a paper bag or a flask before you show up, if you want to imbibe.
It's definitely 'flex space' in that depending on the event, it's divided into church pews and seats with a floor seating up in front and sometimes it's all open with some seats on the periphery.
The basement is a place you can hang out if you want to get away from the crowd upstairs - but it's mostly a storage space. There's a couch near the bathroom which, despite the fact that... well, it's near the bathroom... seems to be a popular place for making-out and other transgressions. I guess people are turned on by different things. Like proximity to bathrooms. To each their own.
If I could find out about the shows more, I would go more. Until then it's nice to know it exists and the shows I have attended there were mucho enjoyable. -
Review from brent b.
Ann Arbor, MI
10/14/2011 1 Check-in Here
Not the greatest concert venu,
but it is a fun one if you don't care too much about audio quality.
I hear they do puppet shows on the weekends?
Havent seen one yet,
but that does sound cool.
Also, everything here seems to start later than advertised. -
Review from Chandra P.
Livonia, MI
6/3/2011
Couldn't wait to attend the Totally Awesome Fest...the bands started over an hour late at Dreamland...the sound system was horrible - we could not hear the lead singer during the first set at all. There was some kid running around trying to fix it...he never did. The band handled it very well. I likely would have walked off the stage, but they were already getting started so late. After waiting over an hour, we acutally left after the first band because the sound quality was just so awful that it was frustrating to listen to!
I love the idea of Dreamland and support it just for it's uniqueness...but I guess you get what you pay for?? -
Review from Lisa W.
Flint, MI
6/21/2008
Dreamland Theater is a small venue where I have seen Actual Birds, Mandarin Dynasty, and Charlie Slick play. It has a very intimate setting. Well-loved local musicians perform here, and the work of local artists are displayed.
One of the very most awesome notable things that Dreamland offers is puppetry! Take your kids or be a big kid.
