FREUD'S LAST SESSION Features October Post-Show Talkback Discussion Series

FREUD'S LAST SESSION will feature a post-show talkback series in October to discuss Love, Sex, the Meaning of Life and the Existence of God at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport in Chicago. Winner of the 2011 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play, the Midwest Premiere of FREUD'S LAST SESSION has received rave reviews and three Jeff Award nominations, including Best Play. The production has been extended multiple times and is now in final weeks, ending its successful Chicago run on November 11. Written by Mark St. Germain, under the direction of Tyler Marchant, the production stars local theater legend, Mike Nussbaum (Emmy, Drama Desk Award, four-time Jeff Award winner, and recent Sarah Siddons Award recipient), as "Sigmund Freud" and Coburn Goss (Vigils at the Goodman Theatre, Dead Man's Cell Phone at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Off Broadway When the Messenger is Hot at 59E59) as "C.S. Lewis."

· The talkback discussion on Wednesday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m. will feature Dr. Richard Rosengarten, Associate Professor of Religion and Literature in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. Dr. Rosengarten works in religion and literature, where he pursues interests in genres of narrative, hermeneutics, literary theory, and aesthetics, and in the development of religious thought through the "long" eighteenth century.

· The conversation on Sunday, October 14 at 5 p.m. will feature playwright Mark St. Germain. St. Germain's play Dr. Ruth, All the Way recently re-opened at the Barrington Stage Company after a smash hit run this summer. He has also written Camping with Henry and Tom (Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards), The Best of Enemies, Out of Gas on Lover's Leap, and Forgiving Typhoid Mary. With Randy Courts, he has written the musicals The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller and Jack's Holiday.

· The final talkback on Sunday, October 20 at 8 p.m. will include Dr. Ann Kaplan and Dr. Joshua Kellman from the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. Dr. Kaplan is a Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst for adults and children and has taught courses on Freud in his Intellectual Context and on the history of the psychoanalytic movement in Britain in the 30's and 40's. Dr. Kellman is a child and adolescent, and an adult psychiatrist, as well as a psychoanalyst in a private practice in Chicago and Wilmette.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION is by Mark St. Germain under the direction of Tyler Marchant. Additional productions of FREUD'S LAST SESSION are already set to open into 2013 in major markets across the nation and around the world, including London, Madrid, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Los Angeles, and Mexico City. Chris Jones of THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE called FREUD'S LAST SESSION "Terrific!" and selected it as "Critic's Choice." The CHICAGO SUN-TIMES hailed it as "Compelling Theater!" THE HUFFINGTON POST exclaimed that the production "Clips Along with Wit and Charm!", WINDY CITY TIMES raved that it is "Intimate, Witty and Thought-Provoking!," and LAKE COUNTY JOURNAL called it "Fascinating, quick-witted, compelling!"

FREUD'S LAST SESSION centers on legendary psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud, who invites the rising academic star C. S. Lewis to his home in London. Lewis, expecting to be called on the carpet for satirizing Freud in a recent book, soon realizes Freud has a much more significant agenda. On the day England enters World War II, Freud and Lewis clash on the existence of God, love, sex, and the meaning of life – only two weeks before Freud chooses to take his own. Not just a powerful debate, this is a profound and deeply touching play about two men who boldly addressed the greatest questions of all time. Mark St. Germain's celebrated new play was suggested by the bestselling book The Question of God by Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, Jr., professor of psychology at Harvard University.

There have been an unusually large number of celebrity spottings at FREUD'S LAST SESSION in New York, including such luminaries as Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Neil Simon, Barbara Walters, Richard Gere, Jerry Stiller, Peter Bogdanovich, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, John Cleese, Patricia Heaton, Cornel West, Christiane Amanpour, Marcia Gay Harden, John Kander, Andy Rooney, Dick Cavett, Frank Oz, Dr. Ruth (5 times!), Peter Shaffer, The Amazing Kreskin, Celeste Holm, Victoria Jackson, TR Knight, Dan Lauria, Scott Adsit, and Tina Louise. Additionally, Chicago news anchor Ron Magers had a session.

Mike Nussbaum has directed and acted in Chicago theaters for more than fifty years, originating roles in David Mamet's: American Buffalo, Life in the Theatre, Glengarry Glen Ross, and others. He appeared in the Peter Brook production of The Cherry Orchard, which opened in New York and toured Russia and Japan. He has worked on and off-Broadway, and in Dublin, Vancouver, The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, England, and theatres across the United States including Hartford Stage, Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, Theatre J, and Roundabout. Shakespeare roles include Polonius, Shylock, Friar Lawrence, and John of Gaunt at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Film credits include House of Games, Fatal Attraction, Field of Dreams, and Men in Black. His work has been honored with an Emmy, Drama Desk Award and Sarah Siddons Award, and by the Jefferson Committee, DePaul University, The Illinois Legend Award, and The University Club of Chicago.

Coburn Goss has acted at numerous ChicaGo Productions including the world premiere of Vigils and The Crowd You're In With at the Goodman Theatre; Fake, Dead Man's Cell Phone, When the Messenger is Hot, The Royal Family and Absolution at Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Dying City and The Boarding House at Next Theatre Company; The Seagull at Writers' Theatre; and A Whistle in the Dark and Journey's End at Seanachaí Theatre. His off-Broadway credits include When the Messenger is Hot at 59E59 Theaters. His regional credits include The Last True Believer at Seattle Repertory Theatre and Irish Crazy Jane and The Good Times Are Killing Me at Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Film credits include The Lucky Ones, Joshua, Shelter and What Women Want. Television credits include Dirty Medicine, Reconstruction, The Chicago Code, The Beast, Prison Break and ER.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION is presented in Chicago and Off-Broadway in New York by Carolyn Rossi Copeland, Robert Stillman and Jack Thomas. Scenic design is by Brian Prather, costume design by Mark Mariani, lighting design by Clifton Taylor, and sound design by Beth Lake.

The performance schedule is Wednesdays at 2pm and 7:30pm, Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm and Sundays at 1pm and 5pm. Tickets range from $45 to $59. Student tickets are $22 (with valid student ID). Appropriate for ages thirteen (13) and up. For tickets and information contact the Mercury Theater at 773-325-1700 or www.mercurytheaterchicago.com. For groups of ten or more, call Group Theater Tickets at 312.423.6612. For more information, visit www.FreudsLastSession.com.

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