FREUD'S LAST SESSION Features 'Great Debate' Talkback Discussion, 4/1

FREUD'S LAST SESSION will feature Love, Sex, the Meaning of Life and the Existence of God, a special talkback discussion with Dr. Timothy Larsen, McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, and Dr. Christopher Nissen, Professor of Italian and advisor to the Atheists, Agnostics, and Free Thinkers group at Northern Illinois University, on Sunday, April 1 following the 1 p.m. performance at the Mercury Theater (3745 N. Southport) in Chicago. A current sold-out sensation Off-Broadway, FREUD'S LAST SESSION makes its Midwest Premiere on March 26 and runs through June 3. It is the winner of the 2011 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play.

Timothy Larsen is McManis Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and this year he is also a Visiting Fellow in History, All Souls College at Oxford University. His books include Crisis of Doubt: Honest Faith in Nineteenth-Century England (Oxford University Press, 2006), which was named Book of the Year by Books & Culture and, most recently, A People of One Book: The Bible and the Victorians (Oxford University Press, 2011). His popular writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Christian Century, and Inside Higher Ed.

Christopher Nissen, a native Californian, received his Ph.D. in Italian literature from the University of California, Berkeley in 1987. He has taught Italian language and literature at Northern Illinois University in De Kalb since 1988. In 2008 he joined the Atheists, Agnostics & Free Thinkers club at Northern Illinois University, and has served in the role of Faculty Advisor to the club ever since. AAFT (Atheists, Agnostics, and Free Thinkers) is the first secular organization at Northern Illinois University.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION is by Mark St. Germain and stars Mark H. Dold as C. S. Lewis and Martin Rayner as Sigmund Freud, 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.

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, 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.

Playwright Mark St. Germain has written the plays 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. 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

Mark H. Dold appeared on Broadway in Absurd Person Singular, and his Off-Broadway credits include Shockheaded Peter, Comic Potential, Race, The Winter's Tale, Othello, The Seagull, Romeo and Juliet, Spread Eagle, and Timon of Athens. Regionally, Mark has appeared at the Mark Taper Forum, Old Globe (San Diego Critics Circle Award), Chicago Shakespeare, Shakespeare DC, Long Wharf (Connecticut Critics Circle Award), Trinity Rep, and Yale Rep.

Martin Rayner's Broadway credits include The Invention of Love and Sixteen Wounded. His Off-Broadway appearances include Travels with My Aunt, Gates of Gold, Henry V, and Kit Marlowe. Martin's favorite regional roles were at Yale Rep: Underground and You Never Can Tell; McCarter: Loot; American Repertory Theater: King Lear and When We Dead Awaken; Wilma: The Invention of Love and The Magic Fire. TV credits include Dr. Chaotica on Star Trek: Voyager,Frasier and Benjamin Franklin.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION is presented in Chicago and Off-Broadway 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 $55 to $45. Student tickets are $22 (with valid student ID) and a limited number of rush tickets are available at the box office beginning three hours prior to each performance. 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.