Tree of Dreams

Tree of Dreams is an intimate, cinematic theatre experience blending live music, object storytelling, shadow play, and projection. Inspired by The Little Prince, The Alchemist, and Where the Wild Things Are, the show follows a boy growing up in government housing who has forgotten how to dream — but the universe conspires to help him remember.

Through evocative visuals, transformed everyday objects, and original live music, Tree of Dreams explores what it means to keep dreaming when circumstances tell you not to — and how imagination can become an act of survival.

Created by Duane Forrest in collaboration with artists behind the Edinburgh Fringe 2024 sell-out shows Book of Dew and Bob Marley: How Reggae Changed the World, Tree of Dreams offers a visually rich and emotionally resonant journey where reality and inner worlds blur.

Duane Forrest Productions

Duane Forrest Productions is an independent multidisciplinary company founded by Jamaican-Canadian artist Duane Forrest, creating intimate, portable performances that blend original music, object theatre, and community-rooted storytelling. For over a decade, the company has toured internationally across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, East Asia, and Latin America, presenting both theatrical works and concerts at fringe and independent festivals.

Earlier productions such as Climb and Bob Marley: How Reggae Changed the World established Forrest’s signature fusion of narrative songwriting and theatrical storytelling, earning sell-out runs and awards recognition. Since 2023, the company has been developing and touring Tree of Dreams, Forrest’s most personal multidisciplinary work to date, with performances in Toronto, Montréal, and Ottawa and continued international touring planned through 2027.

Grounded in community arts practice, Duane Forrest Productions is committed to accessibility, international collaboration, and creating emotionally resonant work that travels easily and connects across cultures.

Artist Biographies

Duane Forrest

Duane Forrest is a Toronto-based professional playwright, singer-songwriter and multimedia artist. Over the past decade, he has released two full-length albums, staged multiple theatre shows and toured extensively across Canada, Europe, and Central America. His music has received international radio play in countries such as Canada, Germany, Honduras, Iceland, Italy, Nicaragua, and the United States.
Duane has created several pieces of theatre; his first show, Climb, made in conjunction with a music album of the same name, received glowing reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in both 2019 and 2022. At the 2023 Milan Fringe Festival, it was named runner-up for "Show of the Festival." His most recent theatrical work, Bob Marley: How Reggae Changed the World, earned a 5-star review from Broadway Baby and was a sell-out show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024.

Sid Zhang

Sid Zhang is a director, dancer, and poet from Nanjing, China and currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She searches for space between words and their silence and creates visual poetry out of interdisciplinary, movement-based performances.

Connor Lifson

Connor Lifson is a director and designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago. He creates object-based performances, multimedia productions blending the stage and screen, and site-specific, immersive experiences. Through highly visual storytelling, abstraction, and fantasy, Connor seeks not to hold up a mirror to the world, but a shimmering looking glass — not to reflect our world’s reality, but its fantastic potential. He is a co-founder of Tide & Foam.