Reverie Within
by
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I had taken walks on which emptied into. From there I knew the way to where any college was: The area of Dewitte I always liked; but when looking for my second place after leaving the dorms my senior year. I found the least expensive spot this time, and learned that I would pay dearly in other ways. It’s funny; but after so many years the name of the street I moved to is forgotten by me even as I sense the very livelihood there. It was situated about 1000 yards from the opening of downtown Syracuse, New York, on a side street we’ll call Towne Street for as well as I remember that might be its name anyway. As I think back the outstanding feature of the old tenement building I lived in was its cockeyed stance; it seemed to lean to one side like the leaning tower of Pisa except it was square in shape instead of being round. Its roof seemed to be opened on one side as though it was tipping its hat to you. For two days I was looking for the right price on an apartment in town. When I saw the small ad listing $130.00 a month (remember, this was 1976) I couldn’t resist. The add also said the place was furnished; I just couldn’t pass it up. I was at a friend’s new apartment when I read the ad. My new place was listed as down the street from his. I noticed the diminutive size of the new place I’d call home; almost immediately I started counting how many apartments would be within the little place. Can’t be more than ten places,” I thought to myself
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About the Book
Reverie Within is a reflection on the days I spent in college. I was in school at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York. The book begins as I left college with only a few courses left to graduate. I found a place in the inner city area of Syracuse. It was the beginning of summer in the year 1976. The place I got was rather small. So small that I used to lay in a closet. I was gratefully down the street from the apartment of a school friend of mine by the name of Tommy. I am pictured in the beginning of the book at his place drinking cold beers in the heat of the evening. As the story goes on I write about a video play I directed called Shadow of the Glenn. The actress and three actors I directed became fast friends. We spent a lot of time together including a visit to a spring fed lake on the side of town, swimming and barbecuing. I make friends with my next door neighbor, whose name is Cindy. Together we leave our apartment building at 4:00 am in the morning to drive up to the mountains of upstate New York to go fishing. I reach back in time to the year before and write about the girl I was in love with. Her name was Amy. It was a heart-crunching relationship: one that was hard to get over. The later part of the book is the reading of a journal I kept on my trip to Europe. A trip I took to get away from Amy and everything else. After reading the journal I decide its time to leave the Syracuse area for home. I tell a close friend named Tony “I’m going home.” He agrees it’s a good idea. After a big party with Tony I drive home, and the book ends with me pulling into my driveway in Parma Heights, Ohio.
About the Author
Steven O’Casey was born the youngest of four children. From kindergarten to eighth grade he attended
At St. Ignatius, O’Casey fell in love with the theatre. He played roles such as Alfred in ‘My Three Angels’ and Sky Masterson in ‘Guys and Dolls’. He won a Silver Medal in a one-act play festival for playing the supporting role of Silva in ‘The Long Goodbye’.
He continued acting in college playing the roles Harry Hegen in Sean O’Casey’s ‘The Silver Tassle’ and Laertes in ‘Hamlet’. He also played the coach in ‘That Championship Season’.
After taking some writing courses he began writing play adaptations and poetry. He was permitted by the head of the English department to take writing tutorials, one for writing poetry, and two tutorials for playwriting.
After leaving college he continued acting for a while. This included a summer with the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival the same year that Tom Hanks got his start in acting with the same group.
After leaving the Shakespeare Festival, O’Casey did a sound adaptation for radio. It was his own production of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. He personally played nine roles, including Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Marley’s Ghost. The adaptation got radio play on WCLV in
After ‘A Christmas Carol’, O’Casey abstained from doing any artistic endeavors until he began writing poetry seriously again in 1989. A few years later he became serious writing novels and short stories.