Science and religion, body and soul, reality and fantasy, nothing is off limits in the award winning play, Freud’s Last Session, making its West Coast premiere at Taproot Theatre this March. Air raid sirens sound overhead, C.S. Lewis is a young and rising academic star and Sigmund Freud has invited him for tea. What could possibly come next? Written by Mark St. Germain and directed by Producing Artistic Director Scott Nolte Freud’s Last Session runs from March 23 through April 21, with previews on March 21 and 22 and a pay what you can performance on March 28.
The play opened in New York July 2010, and is currently the longest running Off-Broadway show this season. Winner of the 2011 Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play, Freud’s Last Session is an engrossing and thoughtful encounter between two significant men who are drawn into an honest discussion that will amuse and amaze.
Mark St. Germain’s distinguished new play that Entertainment Weekly called, “… spirited, witty and eminently engaging” was suggested by the bestselling book The Question of God by Armand Nicholi, Jr., a Harvard professor who for over thirty-five years has taught a course comparing the writings, biographies and philosophies of both Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis.
C.S. Lewis was a Christian apologist who wrote books such as The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and a staunch advocate for the atheist worldview. Even though it is unlikely Freud and Lewis ever met, the conversation presented is historically and ideologically sound, musing about issues that were important to Freud and Lewis and remain important today.
Taproot Theatre’s production features Nolan Palmer as Sigmund Freud and Matt Shimkus as C.S. Lewis. The production team includes scenic and sound designer Mark Lund, costume designer Sarah Burch Gordon and lighting designer Andy Duff. Debbie Evans serves as stage manager and Sonja Lowe as dramaturg.
In conjunction with Freud’s Last Session Taproot Theatre is putting on a Conversations panel discussion that will be hosted by The Kindlings Muse and is free to the community on April 3.
Following Freud’s Last Session, Taproot Theatre presents Leaving Iowa, running May 16 through June 16 (opening on May 18).
