SYNOPSIS OF FIRST PRODUCTION for "CAVE OF DREAMS" (@Theater for the New City, October 20-25 8pm) "What if , upon waking, we still dream?" Validity, the woman who comes to journey through the world where dreams take place, is initiated and lulled to dreamland by Cadman, the gatekeeper to the Cave of Dreams. The journey begins with her figurative dismemberment, performed by the shadow creatures that live in the labyrinth of dreamtime. She travels through the cave in search of the heart, crossing paths with its strange inhabitants through its various regions with Cadman's guidance. The dream begins in the forest, where her memories are filtered in by shadows, to the valley of the unknown, where she is riddled by sphinxes, to the Plain of Asphodel, where she is lured by the Siren and the soulless wanderers, who have lost touch with waking life. The Siddhis (supernatural beings that live at the bottom of whirlpools and read minds) then welcome her to the Feast of Dreams and slowly draw her into their water world, where she is tempted by their charms. At Cadman's vehement advice, she leaves this realm and travels up to the mountain where a battle ensues between her and the Serpent, who rules the imagination in dreamtime. The outcome of the battle determines Validity's fate of becoming stuck in the world of dreams or released into a waking world...