Just weeks before his death, legendary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud invites young writer C. S. Lewis to his London study. On the eve of England’s entry into World War II, the two brilliant men have a battle of the minds over God, love, sex, music and the meaning of life. This deeply touching, intellectually thrilling play laced with humor and insight was last season’s Off-Broadway smash.

Written by Mark St. Germain
Directed by Skip Greer

Performance Calendar

Plan your visit

Prologue: a pre-show lecture is offered free of charge one hour prior to every performance.

Dining & Entertainment

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Rick's Prime Rib
898 Buffalo Rd.
Rochester, NY 14624
(585) 235-2900

The Pomodoro Grill
1290 University Ave.
Rochester, NY 14607
(585) 271-5000

Edibles
704 University Ave.
Rochester, NY
(585) 271-4910

Palladio Vu Restaurant
125 E. Main St.
Rochester, NY 14604
(585) 423-6767

Gusto
277 Alexander St.
Rochester, NY 14607
(585) 232-7810

Tavern58 at Gibbs
58 University Ave.
Rochester, NY 14605
(585) 546-5800

Eros Restaurant & Bar
37 Charlotte St.
Rochester, NY 14607
(585) 546-2230

Cast & Crew Bios

RON MENZEL (C.S. Lewis) makes his debut on the Geva Theatre Center Wilson Mainstage in Freud’s Last Session. Mr. Menzel previously appeared at Geva in the very first Hornets’ Nest reading - Back Of The Throat by Yussef El Guindi. A regular actor at the Guthrie Theater, Mr. Menzel has appeared in over a dozen productions there since 2003. Other regional credits include In the Next Room at South Coast Rep; Fair Game at City Theatre in Pittsburgh; Antigone, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Furies, The Tempest and The Unsinkable Molly Brown at Ten Thousand Things Theater; Orson Welles Rehearses Moby Dick and Macbeth at Jungle Theater; Fair Game and Stop Kiss at Eye of the Storm Theatre; Self-Defense, or Death of Some Salesmen at Frank Theatre; Minnesota Shakespeare Project; Minnesota Fringe Festival; Thirst Theater; Hidden Theatre; Huldufolk Theatre and Seattle Children's Theatre. Film and TV credits include Fall Into Me, The Coast, Vernie, New World Symphony and “Numb3rs.”

KENNETH TIGAR (Sigmund Freud) returns to Geva Theatre Center where he previously appeared in The Price and last season’s On Golden Pond. He 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 theatres, performing Salieri in Amadeus, Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Joe Keller in All My Sons, and a world premiere at the Cleveland Play House. He recently appeared Off-Broadway as Squire Trelawney in Treasure Island and can soon be seen in the upcoming 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.

MARK ST. GERMAIN (Playwright) has written the plays Camping with Henry and Tom (Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award), Out of Gas on Lover’s Leap, and Forgiving Typhoid Mary (Time Magazine’s “Year’s Ten Best”), Ears on a Beatle, and The God Committee. With Randy Courts, he has written the musicals The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller, winner of an AT&T “New Plays For The Nineties Award,” both produced at the Lamb’s Theater, New York City. Jack’s Holiday was produced at Playwrights Horizons. Mark’s musical: Stand by Your Man, The Tammy Wynette Story was created for Nashville’s Ryman Theater and has toured nationally. He most recently co-wrote the libretto for Charles Strouse’s American Tragedy. Mr. St. Germain co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard’s Warner Brothers film, Duma. He most recently directed and co-produced the documentary My Dog, An Unconditional Love Story featuring Richard Gere, Lynn Redgrave, and Glenn Close, among many others. It was shown on the Oprah Winfrey Network and a spinoff was filmed for A&E/BIO. Television credits include Writer and Creative Consultant for “The Cosby Show,” “Life Stories,” and Dick Wolf’s “Crime and Punishment.” Mr. St. Germain wrote the children’s book Three Cups, illustrated by April Willy. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists, where he was given the Joe A. Callaway Award, a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Writer’s Guild East, and a Board Member of the Barrington Stage Company. He was awarded the “New Voices in American Theatre” award at the William Inge Theatre Festival.

SKIP GREER (Director) serves as Artist in Residence and Director of Education at Geva Theatre Center. His directing credits at Geva include On Golden Pond, Over the Tavern, Almost, Maine; the world premiere of The House in Hydesville; Doubt; American Buffalo; Inherit the Wind; Key West; Death of a Salesman; Lobby Hero; Below the Belt; The Weir; Women Who Steal; Beast on the Moon; Triumph of Love and Geometric Digression of the Species. He directed King Lear at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Other regional directing credits include Studio Arena Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Sacramento Theatre Company, State Theatre of Austin and Gary Marshall’s Falcon Theatre, where he directed Golf with Alan Shepard starring Jack Klugman and Charles Durning. Mr. Greer has also been an actor at Geva appearing in The Music Man, (Mayor Shinn) Evie’s Waltz (Clay), Our Town (the Stage Manager), Hamlet (Ghost/Player King), 1776 (John Hancock), House and Garden (Giles), Art (Serge), Twelve Angry Men (Juror #1), A Girl’s Life (Ken and Louis Pasteur), Every Good Boy Deserves Favor (Alexander), The Illusion (Alcandre), Picasso at the Lapine Agile (Sagot) and State of the Union (Spike McManus). Regional credits include seven seasons in the resident acting company of Sacramento Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival and Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts. Film and TV credits include “Bloodhounds,” “LA Law” and “VR5.” Mr. Greer has toured Europe, Africa, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands, teaching and performing.

ROB KOHARCHIK (Scenic Designer) returns to Geva Theatre Center where past designs include On Golden Pond, A Christmas Story, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, Doubt, American Buffalo, Key West, Lobby Hero, and Pyretown. Other credits include designs for: the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Weston Playhouse of Vermont, the Cincinnati Playhouse, the Cleveland Playhouse and the Contemporary American Theatre of Columbus. Mr. Koharchik is an Assistant Professor of Design at Butler University and a founding member of ShadowApe Theatre Company.

ANN EMO (Costume Designer) is thrilled to return to Geva Theatre Center. She received her M.F.A. from NYU, continuing to work in the New York City area designing for stage, dance, film, and opera and was the resident costume designer for TADA!- Theater and Dance Alliance. Moving to Buffalo, Ann continued her design work at Studio Arena Theatre and for several local Buffalo theaters including Shakespeare in Delaware Park for which she received the 2009-2010 ArtVoice Theatre Award, Outstanding Costume Design for The Tempest. Currently, Ann holds the position of Assistant Professor- Theater Department, at Buffalo State College. In addition to her work in theater Ann has earned a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

DEREK MADONIA (Lighting Designer) has designed numerous shows at Geva Theatre Center including The Tribute to Sir Elton John and Billy Joel, Perfect Wedding, Underneath the Lintel, Evie’s Waltz, The Underpants, Shear Madness, That was Then, All is Well in the Kingdom of Nice, And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank, Meet Me Incognito, Tomato Plant Girl, the Portrait the Wind the Chair, This is Not a Pipe Dream and Women Who Steal. He received his B.A. from the University at Albany. Mr. Madonia came to Geva in 1992 as a lighting apprentice and he is currently in his 20th season as Master Electrician. He would like to thank his family and his talented band of electricians for all their help and support.

DAN ROACH (Sound Designer) has, since 1988, worked on sound for numerous productions at Geva Theatre Center, NTID’s Theatre for the Deaf, SUNY Brockport, and Keuka College. Most recent productions at Geva include You Can’t Take It With You, Perfect Wedding, On Golden Pond, Over the Tavern; Almost, Maine; Dracula, the Shape of Evil with PUSH Physical Theatre; Evie’s Waltz; Dial M for Murder; The Underpants; Nine Parts of Desire; Doubt and A Christmas Story. He studied sound at Berklee College of Music in Boston and has been applying that knowledge to theatre over the past 24 years. He currently works full time for Hillside Family of Agencies as their Web Administrator and is grateful for their flexibility in providing time to pursue his love of theatre and sound design. He is a resident of Brighton where he lives with his beautiful wife Jing. He will also be designing sound for Freud’s Last Session at Geva this fall.

JENNI WERNER (Dramaturg) is in her second season as the Director of Literary and Artistic Programs at Geva Theatre Center. Last season she served as dramaturg on A Raisin in the Sun and Superior Donuts. Previously, she served as the Director of Programming at Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the non-profit theatre field. From 2005-2011, Ms. Werner produced TCG’s annual National Conference, curating the content and organizing the logistics for the largest national gathering of professionals in the non-profit theatre field. For the past six years, she was adjunct instructor in the Program in Educational Theatre in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University, and is now an adjunct instructor at both SUNY Geneseo and RIT. Ms. Werner has an M.F.A. in dramaturgy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a B.A. in theatre and history from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. She and Sean Daniels co-author Geva’s blog, at gevajournal.com.

FRANK CAVALLO (Stage Manager) returns to Geva Theatre Center where he has stage managed numerous productions, including Superior Donuts, Perfect Wedding, On Golden Pond, The Music Man, A Raisin in the Sun, Anything Goes, Below the Belt, Five Guys Named Moe (twice), Vigil, several Reflections Festival premieres and the occasional production of A Christmas Carol. He has also worked as a stage manager at various other regional theatres, as the production manager for the Rochester Children’s Theatre at Nazareth College, and toured for Poetry in Motion with Ms. Salome Jens’ one woman show, About Anne…, featuring the poetry of Anne Sexton. Many thanks to the Geva Staff. It’s nice to be back.

VERONICA AGLOW (Assistant Stage Manager) returns to Geva Theatre Center where she last stage managed You Can’t Take It With You, Company, A Raisin in the Sun, A Christmas Carol, Dracula, On Golden Pond, Girls Night The Musical and assistant stage managed Superior Donuts, Perfect Wedding, The Music Man and Over the Tavern. Ms. Aglow stage managed the Philadelphia run of Girls Night at the Kimmel Center’s Innovation Studio, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Little Shop of Horrors at the Devon Theatre. Favorite credits include productions of Parade, Can-Can, and the world premiere of Broadway’s American Idiot. Ms. Aglow is a proud graduate of Point Park University. As always, she would like to thank her super-supportive parents, who have helped make her dreams a reality.

ELISSA MYERS CASTING, Paul Fouquet, CSA Mr. Fouquet, a Rochester native, is honored to be recognized as a Geva Associate Artist. This marks the 15th year of Myers’ and Fouquet’s collaboration with Geva Theatre Center. Broadway casting credits include seven shows, including the Tony-nominated Having Our Say and 25 Off-Broadway Shows. Regional casting includes Denver Center, Cleveland Play House, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Magic Theatre. Film/TV credits include the upcoming PBS movie Souls on Fire, to air in 2013; three "Movies of the Week" (with Tyne Daly, Claire Danes, Christopher Reeve, Ed Asner and Daniel J. Travanti); five pilots and two PBS specials by Wendy Wasserstein and Terrance McNally (with Bernadette Peters, Nathan Lane, Blythe Danner, Spike Lee and Paul Sorvino); the Peabody Award-Winning mini-series "Liberty,” as well as the Emmy Award-Winning mini-series “Benjamin Franklin,” and “John & Abigail Adams;” and the mini-series “God In America,” “The People v. Leo Frank,” “Dolley Madison” and “Louisa May Alcott.” The office has so far received 15 nominations and has won three Artios Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Casting.