CONTACT: Nicole Clayton
Public Relations Associate
(941) 366 – 9017 ext. 338
[email protected]
DATE: February 25, 2014
Freud and Lewis debate life’s biggest questions
on FST’s Keating Stage
(Sarasota, FL) — Florida Studio Theatre welcomes back to the stage Jeffrey Plunkett and George Crowley for the production of FREUD’S LAST SESSION by Mark St. Germain, as part of FST’s Stage III program. It will have a limited engagement beginning March 12, 2014 in the Keating Theatre. Tickets range from $32 to $34. Tickets are on sale and may be purchased from the FST Box Office in person, by calling (941) 366-9000, or online at www.FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
FREUD’S LAST SESSION has experienced notable success since its first opening in 2009 at the Barrington Stage Company. Having completed a very successful two year run Off Broadway, the production is currently playing in Los Angeles as well as to sellout houses at Chicago’s Mercury Theatre, the famed Multiteatro in Buenos Aires and Sweden’s Stockholm City Theatre. Additional productions are set to open this season in London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Sydney, Madrid, Copenhagen, Philadelphia, Akron, and Sao Paulo. The Examiner describes the production as “an intellectual sword fight.” The Chicago Tribune says it’s “rich in its portrait of…characters.”
FREUD’S LAST SESSION reunites audiences with the work of Mark St. Germain, who also wrote last season’s hit show, BEST OF ENEMIES. This show presents an imagined depiction of a meeting between Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, set in the final days of Freud’s life, on the very day that England entered the Second World War. The play is inspired by Dr. Armand M. Nicholi Jr.’s book The Question of God, which speculates on the meeting between Freud and Lewis that history can neither confirm nor deny. St. Germain’s play takes the scenario one step farther, bringing the imagined meeting to life in exquisite, thought-provoking detail. In a meeting of the minds unlike any other, the intellectual pair faces off over the existence of God and a variety of other topics.
This show brings back two FST veteran, powerhouse performers: George Crowley playing the role of Sigmund Freud, and Jeffrey Plunkett, playing the role of C.S. Lewis. Crowley describes his experience with FST stating, “Every time I’ve come down here since, it’s like returning to an artistic home that’s safe, precisely because the audiences are always up for the challenge. I played the father in that sure-fire play PROOF, good-guy Gabe in DINNER WITH FRIENDS, the fiery painter in TEN UNKNOWNS and, most recently, one of the two sad-sack-rabbis in TWO JEWS WALK INTO A WAR. Every time, the plays, while entertaining, have a daring and a vigor to make all of us, artists and audience, step up to a new challenge. Here I am, again, with Sigmund Freud, directed for my third time by the passionate Kate Alexander, and I get to embody a man whose intelligence will not allow him to suffer fools. Rigor and fire and a willingness to grapple with the sophistry of religion are hallmarks of this play. It’s another challenge. I cannot wait to hear how the audience responds to this one.
Audiences will remember Plunkett for his riveting performances in FST shows like RACE and THE COLUMNIST. Plunkett describes his return for this compelling play stating, “My parents still own the home I grew up in. Each return for me, to the familiar, to the sights and sounds and smells of that particular place, full of memories of all stripes, is very much akin to stepping off the plane in Sarasota for me. It has been my good fortune to do so for a number of years now. The comfort of the embrace of co-workers, of these marvelous friends as we head into another project together, feels like homecoming. That comfort now extends to the greater community where I’ve made the kind of long-lasting relationships that survive absence and make my heart fonder.”
This is a play that asks questions and gets the audience involved in the psychology of human beings and our own universal truths. With dynamic actors, Plunkett and Crowley, sharing the stage for the first time, the Keating Theatre will come alive once again with this fictional, yet so relevant, conversation between two of history’s most legendary figures.
FREUD’S LAST SESSION will begin performances March 12, 2014 and run for a limited engagement through March 23, 2013 in FST’s Keating Theatre. Single tickets range from $32 to $34. Tickets are on sale and may be purchased from the FST Box Office in person, by calling (941) 366-9000 or online at www.FloridaStudioTheatre.org. FST is located in historic downtown Sarasota at 1241 North Palm Avenue, Sarasota FL 34236.
About Florida Studio Theatre
Known as Sarasota’s Contemporary Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre was founded in 1973 by Jon Spelman. Starting out as a small touring company, FST traveled to places such as migrant camps and prisons. The company eventually settled down into a permanent home, acquiring the former Woman’s Club building – now renamed the Keating Theatre. In the years that followed, Florida Studio Theatre established itself as a major force in American Theatre, presenting contemporary theatre in its five theatre venues: the Keating Theatre, the renovated Gompertz Theatre, the Goldstein Cabaret, the John C. Court Cabaret, and Bowne’s Lab Theatre.
Even with its growth, Florida Studio Theatre remains firmly committed to making the arts accessible and affordable to a broad-based audience. Under Richard Hopkins, Artistic Director and CEO, FST develops theatre that speaks to our living, evolving, and dynamically changing world. As FST grows and expands, it continues to provide audiences with challenging, contemporary drama and innovative programs.
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Freud’s Last Session
Performance Schedule
March 12, 2014 – March 23, 2014
Keating Theatre
Tickets: $32-$34
Wednesday March 12(Preview) 8pm
Thursday March 13(Preview) 8pm
Friday March 14 8pm
Saturday March 15 3pm & 8pm
Sunday March 16 3pm &7pm
Tuesday March 18 8pm
Wednesday March 19 8pm
Thursday March 20 8pm
Friday March 21 8pm
Saturday March 22 3pm & 8pm
Sunday March 23 3pm
Sunday March 23 7pm
Florida Studio Theatre 2013-14 Season
Winter Mainstage:
Monty Python’s Spamalot – November 13 thru January 25
Thurgood – December 11 thru March 8
Daddy Long Legs – February 5 thru April 5
Tom Jones – April 9 thru June 1
Winter Cabaret:
The Prima Donnettes – October 23 thru February 15
Poems, Prayers and Promises January 1 thru April 20
Too Darn Hot – February 19 thru June 7
Improv:
Out of Bounds –February 4, 7, 9, 14, 16, 22, 27 | March 1 | April 5
52 Card Pick Up –February 1,8, 15, 21, 28 | March 4, 9, 14, 16, 27 | April 4, 12
Text M… For MURDER! –March 7, 8, 15, 22, 28, 29 | April 1, 6, 11, 13, 24
Special Events:
Freud’s Last Session– March 12 – 23
Thurgood Forums Project – January thru February
For the Ages – October 1 thru May 1
Kids Komedy Club – December 21, 28, January 4, February 8, March 1
