Theater Arts Productions

Director’s Notes

“Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.”
— Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Susan DibbleSusan Dibble

I have been creating Five Doors One Room over the last 3 years.

Every day involves collecting objects, images, music, gesture, and steps.

I put the many things I collect from the everyday project of my life into my dances. This new piece is about one room where the ‘Keeper of the Keys” welcomes people to enter a place where they can feel free, surprised, and live without fear or hardship-a place that invites hope a desire for things to change for the better. For me it is a place that somewhere is embedded in our hearts.

“The dark is not an end, but a door. This is the way; a new beginning comes.”
— From All Creation Waits by Gayle Boss

Inspiration for Five Doors One Room

  1. The title: Five Doors One Room was inspired by the 5 doors in the president’s office at Brandeis. The office is a room with a history and serves as a place for thoughtful and lively conversation, greeting and meeting people, problem solving, and exploring new ideas.
  2. Doors: a door that opens into the inside, denotes your desire for inner exploration and self-discovery.
  3. Number Five: Five is the number of grace, freedom, curiosity, positive change, growth, and abundance in life.
  4. Number One: The number one symbolizes individuality, the beginning of self-discovery, self-empowerment, and the essence of singularity.
  5. Keys: A key can be a symbol of hope, as it represents the possibility of opening doors that were previously closed.
  6. The Little Chair: The simple chair sits empty, symbolic of its absent owner, and is an image that is infinitely sad and mysterious. It is a most familiar object that comes to represent the artist themself. A chair symbolizes structure, balance, symmetry, and support.
  7. Bread symbolizes eternal sustenance and can be identified with the life cycle of plants representing the mystery of human birth and death.
  8. Characters’ Names: The casts’ names come from various mythological stories and symbolize a variety of unique characteristics.

Special Thanks

I would like to thank the performers, designers and staff members who collaborated with me on this project and made it possible to tell this story in the best way. I want to acknowledge Elaine Wong who believed in my ability as an artist and leader during my 34 years on the faculty at Brandeis.

And, many many thanks to the people in my family who explore and laugh with me on a daily basis.

Music for Fives Doors One Room

  • Opening: The Beauty of All Things by David Darling
  • Sc. 1. Plume by Henry Torgue & Serge Houppin
  • Sc. 2. Music Box by Rene` Aubry
  • Sc. 3. Piano Phase (1967) by Steve Reich
  • Sc. 4. Serse, Ombre by George Frideric Handel
  • Sc. 5. Puerto De Santa Maria by Josephine Foster, Victor Herrero
  • Sc. 6. I and I by Rainer Fabich
  • Sc. 7.Waltz- From “The Boorish” by Eleni Karaindrou
  • Sc. 8. Replay by Rene` Aubry
  • Sc. 9. Voglio una casa by L’Arpeggiata, Christina Pluhar, Lucilla Galeazzi
  • Sc. 10. Todo es Mentira by Albert Pla, Pascal Comelade
  • Sc. 11. Summer 3-2012 by Max Richter, Daniel Hope, Raphael Alpermann
  • Sc. 12. Semele, Act II: “Where’er You Walk by George Frideric Handel