TheaterWorks Presents FREUD'S LAST SESSION, Now thru 2/23

Freud's Last Session will run today, January 17 through February 23, 2014 at TheaterWorks in Downtown Hartford.

Freud's Last Session is an award winning play by Mark St. Germain (2011 Best Play Award from the Off-Broadway Alliance). Set in 1939 as England goes to war against the Nazis, its an electrifying conversation about God, love, sex, and the meaning of life - an intoxicating debate between two great minds trying to solve life's great mystery. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud pioneered the Id, the Ego and the Superego. Writer C.S. Lewis created The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Two brilliant but vastly different men, Freud was an atheist and Lewis was a believer.

Just weeks before his death, legendary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud invites a young C.S. Lewis to his London study. As they listen to radio bulletins about England going to war, religious views become the main theme of their conversation. Once a skeptic, Lewis now has a profound faith in God, while Freud thinks anyone who believes is suffering from obsessional neurosis. Sometimes shocking, often very funny, always thought-provoking, the discussion covers free will, science, myths, joy, pain, the New Testament, family, and of course, sex. 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.

In his TheaterWorks' debut, Kenneth Tigar is Freud, the legendary psychoanalyst and one of the most influential and controversial thinkers of the twentieth century. Audiences will recognize Kenneth from many notable roles including the movie The Avengers and the TV show Barney Miller. Jonathan Crombie makes his TheaterWorks' debut as C.S. Lewis. Jonathan is a veteran stage actor and Toronto native who has been seen on Broadway stages and in regional theaters throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Maxwell Williams directs. Producing Artistic Director, Rob Ruggiero is thrilled to welcome Max to TheaterWorks. Hartford theatergoers know him as Hartford Stage's Associate Artistic Director where he has directed widely Popular Productions of Boeing-Boeing, The 39 Steps and Dying City.

Rob added that in addition to the respect he has for Max's work, he is also very excited to deepen TheaterWorks' relationship with Hartford Stage. While the theaters have shared a professional rapport for years, new collaborations will only serve to enhance the theater-going experience for Greater Hartford audiences.

Freud's Last Session runs January 17 through February 23, 2014. TheaterWorks is located at City Arts on Pearl - 233 Pearl Street, Hartford, CT. For seats call 860.527.7838. 2013-2014 four-play subscriptions which includes Freud's Last Session are still available for only $135. For more information, visit www.theaterworkshartford.org.

The production design team includes Evan Adamson (Sets), Thomas Legally (Costume), Philip Rosenberg (Lights), Michael Miceli (Sound) and Sven Nelson (Props) with casting by McCorkle Casting, Ltd. Production Manager is Michael Lenaghan with Kate Cudworth as Production Stage Manager.

Kenneth Tigar (Sigmund Freud) makes his TheaterWorks' debut having played Freud previously at Geva Theatre Center. Kenneth is a familiar face from film and television. His credits span the distance from Barney Miller and the Lethal Weapon movies to Boardwalk Empire and The Avengers. He has acted extensively in regional theaters, performing Salieri in Amadeus, Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman and Joe Keller in All My Sons, amongst others. Kenneth appeared off-Broadway as Squire Trelawney in Treasure Island and can be seen in last season's Netflix series House of Cards with Kevin Spacey. He has performed Old Wicked Songs in Vienna, Santa Barbara, Sarasota and Lake George; won a Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle Award, two Dramalogue Awards, and South Florida's Carbonell Award; and appeared across the country in his one-man show I Must Be Mr. Boswell about the biographer of Dr. Johnson. He directed the national tour of The Gin Game with Academy Award winner Kim Hunter and is also an accomplished opera director. His translations of Brecht and Wedekind have been performed from Boston to Los Angeles.

Jonathan Crombie (C.S. Lewis) is making his TheaterWorks' debut. A Toronto native,Jonathan came to the U.S. in 2007 to take over the role of Man in Chair in the Broadway production of The Drowsy Chaperone and its subsequent national tour. Canadian theater credits include The Oxford Roof-Climbers Rebellion,The Dishwashers (Tarragon); This Could Be Love (Artword); The Drowsy Chaperone (Theatre Passe Muraille, Winter Garden); Arcadia, What the Butler Saw (Canstage); Romeo and Juliet, Oedipus Rex, The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet (Stratford Festival); Godspell (New Vic); Beach Days With Gamma (Flatzbo). Film/TV credits include: Cottage Country (upcoming), Empty Room, Jane Show, Slings & Arrows, Power Play, Cafe Romeo, Mount Royal, Bullies, Anne of Green Gables 1, 2 & 3. He is a member of the award-winning sketch troupe Skippy's Rangers.

Mark St. Germain (Playwright) delighted TheaterWorks' audiences last summer with his smash hit Becoming Dr. Ruth. He is an acclaimed playwright whose work includes Freud's Last Session, recipient of the 2011 Best Play Award from the Off-Broadway Alliance. Mark is also the author of The Fabulous Lipitones, a musical comedy co-written with John Markus, which just premiered at Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta and Goodspeed Musicals. Other plays include Scott and Hem in the Garden of Allah, Best of Enemies, Camping with Henry and Tom (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Ears on a Beatle, The God Committee and Out of Gas on Lover's Leap. With composer Randy Courts, Mark wrote the musicals The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny and Jack's Holiday. He wrote the Tammy Wynette musical Stand by Your Man for the Ryman Theater in Nashville. Television work includes Writer/Creative Consultant for The Cosby Show. Mark co-wrote Director Carroll Ballard's film Duma and produced and directed the documentary My Dog, An Unconditional Love Story, with Richard Gere, Glenn Close, Edward Albee, Lynn Redgrave and many others. He also wrote the award winning children's book Three Cups. Mark is an Associate Artist at Barrington Stage Company, and a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writer's Guild East.

Maxwell Williams (Director) is making his TheaterWorks' debut. Max's directing credits include world premieres and revivals at theaters across the country, including 59E59 Theatres, the Bank St. Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Capital Repertory Theatre, Chance Theater, Workshop Theater Company, and Monomoy Theater, as well as work for the Pasadena Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Primary Stages, and the Alley Theatre, Houston. Max served as associate director for the Broadway production of Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate, as well as Foote's 9-play epic The Orphans' Home Cycle (Hartford Stage and Signature Theatre). He has assistant directed on Broadway, for Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theater Club, Lincoln Center Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company and The American Repertory Theatre. Max is currently the Associate Artistic Director for Hartford Stage where he has directed productions of Boeing-Boeing, The 39 Steps and Dying City.

Rob Ruggiero (Producing Artistic Director) has been associated with TheaterWorks since 1993 where he has directed nearly 50 shows, including recent productions of Christmas on the Rocks, Time Stands Still, Venus In Fur, and I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti (Broadway World Award). At TheaterWorks Rob also conceived, developed and directed Ella, which has played major regional theaters nationwide since 2005. On Broadway, Rob directed High (starring Kathleen Turner) and Looped (starring Valerie Harper in a Tony Award nominated performance). He recently launched the national tour of Looped starring Stephanie Powers. Off-Broadway Rob directed All Under Heaven (also starring Ms. Harper), as well as conceiving and directing the original musical revue Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn (Drama Desk/Outer Critics Circle Nominations). Rob has been recognized nationally for directing both plays and musicals. His work has been seen at major regional theaters around the country, including: Actor's Theater of Louisville, Barrington Stage Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Cleveland Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, Hartford Stage, The Pittsburgh Public Theater, and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis among others. Rob recently directed critically acclaimed revivals of both The Most Happy Fella and Carousel, which earned multiple Broadway World Awards. This was his seventh collaboration with Goodspeed, where he also directed highly successful productions of Annie Get Your Gun, Camelot, Big River, 1776 and a recent revival of Show Boat, which garnered him his fifth Connecticut Critics' Circle Award for best direction. www.robruggiero.com

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