Freud’s Last Session
Written by Mark St. Germain
Directed by Christopher Jerabek
Starring Christopher Jerabek and Coby Rogers
For a course taught by Nicholas Few
“One of us is a fool. If you are right, you’ll be able to tell me so. But if I am right, neither of us will ever know. Death is as unfair as life.”
My directorial debut was a one-act production of Freud’s Last Session, by Mark St. Germain. The show depicts a fictional conversation between Sigmund Freud, a psychologist, and C.S. Lewis, a Christian writer. Over the course of their meeting, the men discuss the existence to God, the importance of humor in the face of adversity., and the essence of good and evil. Lewis is a devout believer, but Freud is equally devout in his disbelief, and these two intellectual titans spar with their words just as Germany and England wage war against each other.
My production was staged during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as such I was limited to a virtual medium. I hesitate to use the word “limited,” because I chose not to resist the technology, but lean into it instead. Knowing the weight that came with a two-man show like this, I also made the decision to act in the show as well as direct, alongside a close friend and brilliant colleague, Coby Rogers. We rehearsed over Zoom and FaceTime for several months, before we recorded and edited the final production. Here, you can watch the first scene from the show.