In the Shadow of a Dream is a performance about the nature of genius, individuality, free will, the destinies we choose for ourselves, and the comforting illusion of predestination as an escape from responsibility. A young prince is sent by his father, the Emperor, to acquire the wisdom and discernment required of a worthy ruler. Following his father’s advice, he seeks out a hermit-magician who lives atop a mountain and guards the Book of Destiny. As the prince embarks on this initiatory journey, he must confront the forces of nature and overcome the trials set before him by an apparently malevolent figure: Death. The performance is a visual fairy tale created in the European tradition of long-string marionette theatre. Freely adapted by Mihai Eminescu’s unfinished tale The Tale of the Traveling Magus Among the Stars, it also weaves together fragments from the Romanian poet’s lyrical works to create a distinctly theatrical fairy-tale universe, centered on one of the defining themes of his oeuvre: the figure of the exceptional individual.