Real (play)

New York, 2019. Dominique, a 40 year-old married woman and successful working mother, reads a play about a young man in the 1930's who's composing a fugue. The story inspires her to play the violin again, which she hasn't touched since she was a young prodigy. As Dominique plays the music she imagines the young man is composing, she has a revelation: she is not supposed to be living her life.

New York, 1930. Dominic, a 20 year-old queer Mexican immigrant, is a promising composer. He begins having a recurring dream about a woman in her 40's who plays the most sublime music on the violin. Dominique starts to compose a fugue based on what he hears in his dreams. And he feels like he is supposed to live someone else's life.

Just like in the counterpoint technique of a musical fugue, “Real” presents two versions of the same “theme.” And — just like in a fugue — the stories of Dominic and Dominique become so intertwined to a point where one can't discern which one is which.