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Summer Dreams

Summer Dreams is 35 minute film adapted from a one act play by Sheri Bailey.  The play Summer Dreams is part of the six play cycle Summers in Suffolk which unfolds the rich lives of four Tidewater families from 1870 to 1997.

Summer Dreams takes place in 1957 in the Hampton Roads area in Southeastern Virginia.  A key setting is the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia - a mysterious location for this psychological love story incorporating drama, comedy and fantasy.

Edna Wilder is a 26 year old Suffolk schoolteacher who almost lost her mind when her lover, Monroe Roosevelt, abandoned her 11 years earlier, after learning of her pregnancy.  She stopped speaking altogether for three years and even now, has never told her son of his father.  That all changes when her closest friends Maggie and Esper Brinkley inform Edna that Monroe is on his way back home.

Knowing his effect on her and fearing the worst, Edna pays a visit to the heart of the Great Dismal Swamp to find Mama Mojo, the legend of countless Tidewater stories.  Does Mama Mojo hold the key to Edna and Monroe's destiny or does Edna?

Nothing is as it seems - reality becomes a blend of hazy details and wishful thinking and nothing is a lie if it should have been that way.

Steamy, sexy and thought-provoking ... Summer Dreams.

Edna Wilder: Michelle A. Lee

Maggie Brinkley: LaTanya Walker

Esper Brinkley: Karl M. West

Monroe Roosevelt: Michael A. LeMelle

Mama Mojo: Sharon Cook

Aunt Viola: Vinnie Knight

Hank: Ed Jones

Earl: Tom Bonner

Julie May: Sylvia Hutson

Young Esper: Justin Ray

1st Assistant Director: Lyndabeth Bureau

2nd Assistant Director: Delia A. Davis

Sound Mixer: Randy Pease

Boom Operator: Randy Pease

Key Grip: Ron Beard

Gaffer: Ron Beard

Makeup: LaTanya Walker & Lyndabeth Bureau

Production Assistants: James Cooper, Kellie McCants & Karl M. West

All Photos on this page by Margaret Windley - Summer Dreams @ The Great Dismal Swamp, August 2003