Judd Hirsch and Tom Cavanagh Star in FREUD'S LAST SESSION LA Premiere at The Broad Stage Tonight

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center present FREUD'S LAST SESSION, New York's long-running hit play by Mark St. Germain, is set to open in Los Angeles tonight starring Judd Hirsch as Sigmund Freudand Tom Cavanagh as C. S. Lewis under the direction of Tyler Marchant, who helmed the original New York production. Presented by The Broad Stage and CRC Productions, FREUD'S LAST SESSION played preview performances January 11(th) through January 15(th). Opening Night is tonight, January 16(th) and will run for a limited engagement through February 10(th) at The Broad Stage.

The Off-Broadway premiere engagement of FREUD'S LAST SESSION opened on July 22, 2010 to rave reviews and became a sellout sensation throughout its phenomenal two-year run. The show is also currently playing to sold-out houses at Chicago's Mercury Theatre as well as in Buenos Aires, Stockholm and Dallas. Additional productions are set to open this season in London, Mexico City, Sydney, Madrid, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Copenhagen, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Cleveland, Tucson, and Honolulu. FREUD'S LAST SESSION was produced Off-Broadway by Carolyn Rossi Copeland, Robert Stillman and Jack Thomas.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION centers on legendary psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud, who invites the young, 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 Harvard's Dr. Armand M. Nicholi, Jr.

Judd Hirsch is a two-time Tony Award winner for I'm Not Rappaport and Conversations With My Father and his other Broadway credits include Barefoot in the Park, Chapter Two, Art, Talley's Folly, and Knock Knock. Off-Broadway, he starred in The Hot l Baltimore,Below the Belt and The Seagull. Mr. Hirsch won two Emmys for the long-running hit TV series "Taxi," and his other film and TV credits include A Beautiful Mind, Ordinary People (Oscar nomination), "Damages," Serpico, Running on Empty, "Numb3rs," "The Law," "Color of Justice," Independence Day, and "Dear John."

Tom Cavanagh is best known as the star of the hit NBC series "Ed." On Broadway, he starred in Urinetown and Shenandoah. His other film and TV credits include "Scrubs," Bang Bang You're Dead, "The Outer Limits," "Jack & Bobby," Royal Pains," "Eli Stone," "Love Monkey," "Trust Me,""Anya's Bell," "Killer Among Us," Two Weeks, The Cake Eaters,Breakfast with Scot, Something More, "Trading Christmas," "Snow," Dangerous Intentions, and Gray Matters.

Playwright Mark St. Germain has written the plays Camping with Henry and Tom (Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards); Dr. Ruth, All the Way;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. TV credits include Writer and Creative Consultant for "The Cosby Show." Mark co-wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed film Duma, and he directed and co-produced the documentary My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story featuring Richard Gere, Glenn Close and Edward Albee, among many others.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION hosted an unusually large number of celebrity attendees throughout its New York run, including such luminaries as Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Barbara Walters, Celeste Holm, Kenneth Branagh, Richard Gere, John Cleese, Frank Oz, Marcia Gay Harden, Neil Simon, Peter Bogdanovich, T.R. Knight, Patricia Heaton, Jerry Stiller, Christiane Amanpour, Andy Rooney, Olympia Dukakis, Dick Cavett, Victoria Jackson, Scott Adsit, Dan Lauria, Cornel West, Roger Goodell, Peter Shaffer, John Kander, Dr. Ruth (10 times!), Frances Sternhagen, The Amazing Kreskin, Tina Louise, and Louis Zorich.

Scenic design for FREUD'S LAST SESSION is by Brian Prather, with costume design by Mark Mariani, lighting design by Clifton Taylor, and sound design by Beth Lake.

Under the leadership of Director Dale Franzen and Artistic Chair Dustin Hoffman, The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center opened its doors in Santa Monica in October 2008. Inspired by Italian "horseshoe" theaters, yet conceived in an absolutely contemporary vernacular, The Broad Stage is an artist's dream and an audience's delight. Unlike any performance space in the country, it is sublimely intimate with 499-seats and strikingly grand at the same time - allowing eye contact with artists from the boxes to the back row -forging a new kind of artist and audience experience in Los Angeles. Theater, dance, film, jazz, operas, musicals, symphony, chamber orchestras and world music are presented on one of the city's largest proscenium stages. Designed without compromise to embrace the artistic process from inspiration to opening night, and conceived as a global theater and community hub. In addition to The Broad Stage, The Edye Second Space, a smaller black box theater, presents new, developing and innovative work in theater, music and dance as part of the Under the Radar Series. Featuring younger, innovative artists and chamber pieces and plays, programming at The Edye is intentionally spontaneous, reflecting the dynamic nature of the space and allowing the latest, most exciting artists to be booked on short notice. The Broad Stage ARTS INSIGHTS education and outreach program offers opportunities for cultural exposure through six initiatives. These include Student Matinees, In-School Workshops, Master Classes, Open Rehearsals, Family and Community Events, and Conversation Pieces. ARTS INSIGHTS currently reaches 12,000 students and diverse community members annually through over 30 free and low-cost events.

The playing schedule for FREUD'S LAST SESSION will be Tuesday through Friday evenings at 7:30 PM, Saturdays at 4 & 8 PM, and Sundays at 1 & 5 PM. The running time is 84 minutes with no intermission. Tickets range from $42.00 to $175.00 and are now available at www.TheBroadStage.com or by calling 310-434-3200. The Broad Stage is located at 1310 11(th) Street inside the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center. Parking is free.

For more information, visit www.FreudsLastSession.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.