About DANDELION

DANDELION: An Original Musical is a contemporary show that captures the emotional ups and downs of familial love, loss, and change. Female-driven and fearless in its approach to storytelling, it is a universal story that will touch the lives of audience members across generations.

SYNOPSIS

DANDELION tells the poignant and uplifting story of Jane, a young woman who faces profound questions of responsibility and sacrifice when she must decide between attending college in pursuit of her lifelong dream, or staying home to care for her mother — who is struggling with severe mental illness and addiction.

Jane navigates the ups and downs of her senior year of high school while her father tries to lighten the mood with his trademark dad jokes, her brother urges her to assert her own autonomy, and her goofy best friend Gabbie is always by her side to offer emotional support and wacky antics. At the same time, Lilah faces her own inner demons — personified onstage as the Voices — as she loses herself amid a sea of doctors’ appointments, prescriptions, and hallucinatory episodes.

When Jane leaves for a “Welcome Weekend” event at North College, Lilah’s illness reaches a self-destructive turning point, forcing Jane to question whether her mother will be able to live alone safely without Jane, her little “Dandelion.” As family tensions and mounting pressures only worsen, and Lilah continually begs her to stay, Jane has to make the impossible decision to leave in the hopes of making her dreams — and Lilah’s — come true.

Photos by Thomas Hammond, from the 2024 production at Trustus Theatre