Players Workshop 
Psychopathia Sexualis
John Patrick Shanley
Sat, Jul 18, 8pm
Sun, Jul 19, 5pm
Tue–Thu, Jul 21–23, 8pm
Monday Night Special
Mon, Jul 20, 8pm

Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos, except 
Jul 20 at 100 pesos

The Psychopathia of Shanley
By Michael Gottlieb

From Doubt to Psychopathia Sexualis is a long way. Doubt is a drama about crises of faith and Psychopathia is a comedy about…a crisis of socks. Doubt is a treatise on major issues of our time while Psychopathia pokes fun at the intricate dance our body, mind and heart perform on the way to romantic bliss.

Yet, with a writer of Shanley’s talent and stature, one may expect more than a frothy comedy about a man, Arthur, who can’t make love without a certain pair of his father’s socks around. Arthur’s shrink has stolen these socks and he’s got to get them back before his wedding night or face shame, ruin and the end of love. While Shanley does not belabor the point, and it is a comedy, he does hint at the pain which all of us experience as we put together our psyches.

Shanley should know. He is the role model in Psycohpathia Sexualis for Howard, a man who achieved great wealth and success in the world. Eventually he found the success hollow; he missed the “experience of life.” He quits his job and, on his soul-search to find himself, experiences a nervous breakdown which almost ruins his marriage. His life becomes a downward spiral of guilt, shame and regret—a grown man without identity or direction outside his lost fame and fortune.

Shanley hit it big as a young man with his screenplay for Moonstruck in 1987, a popular movie starring Nicholas Cage and Cher. He won the Oscar. He was the golden boy and could do no wrong, except write anything good again for years. He had a string of flops. He spiraled down into a crisis of “emotional turmoil and maniacal self-examination.” He pursued the works of Freud, Reich, Jung and Krafft-Ebing, the author of the landmark work Psycohpathia Sexualis, which Shanley eventually borrowed for the title of his yet-unwritten play.

Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia is a “volume which contains a series of case studies of German people with minor and major sexual disorders…. I bought the book because I have an unhealthy interest in sex and eccentric German people,” says Shanley.

While pursuing his quest for self-understanding, Shanley realized he was a classic fetishist himself, albeit a minor one, with a compulsion to twist his hair while he writes. Eventually he morphed himself into an armchair expert on all matters psychological and began to bore and oppress his friends with relentless psychobabble and diagnosis. Finally, after years of effort, Shanley pulled himself up to the point of inspiration. He got an idea for a play.

Shanley says, “Various characters had begun to take shape in me. One was a foolish fellow who had allowed his dream life to overtake his waking life. Another was a well-meaning fetishist with a problem. One was a brilliant psychiatrist who had been at it a little too long. Then two women appeared, possessed of an opposite energy to the men. I knew I was going to write a play. And I knew I was going to have some fun.”

Psychopathia Sexualis opened in February 1997, at the Manhattan Theater Club in New York City to excellent reviews. Shanley did have fun. The play revived his career 10 years after Moonstruck.

The Players Workshop production of Psyhopathia Sexualis features an outstanding cast and crackles with sharp humor and warm humanity. 





Theater
Broadway Loves Casita Linda
Wed–Thu, Aug 19–20, 8pm
Teatro Ángela Peralta
Mesones 82
350/150/100 pesos

Cast set for Casita extravaganza
By Mark Bilker 

Cast members (top to bottom) Stephanie Umoh, Austin Lesch, Ben Cameron and Colin Cunliffe take a break during rehearsals for Broadway Loves Casita Linda. The Executive Board of Casita Linda and Colin Cunliffe, producer and a featured performer in the first annual Broadway Loves Casita Linda musical extravaganza, have announced the full cast for the two performances.

Casita Linda is the nonprofit organization that builds adobe brick homes for families who are among the most impoverished in San Miguel de Allende and surrounding areas in the state of Guanajuato.

Cunliffe first encountered Casita Linda and its work during a visit to his family’s San Miguel home in 2006. His father Charles is a member of Casita Linda’s executive board.

Cunliffe said, “I’ve been thinking, since my hands-on work experience with Casita Linda, of a way to use my theater background to help promote the organization. After talking with a number of my theater friends and sensing their enthusiasm, I began to believe it would be possible to bring a volunteer group of theater professionals with significant Broadway experience to San Miguel for a series of benefit performances. Sure enough, serious conversations ensued and I had no difficulty recruiting performers.” 

In addition to Cunliffe, whose Broadway credits include Cry Baby, and who will shortly appear in The Addams Family starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, the production will star Ben Cameron, Kathryn Mowat Murphy, Austin Lesch and Stephanie Umoh.

Ben Cameron’s Broadway credits include his appearance in the original cast of the long-running hit musical Wicked; Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida and Footloose, in which he also was an original cast member. Cameron also has toured in productions of Sweet Charity, Fame, State Fair and Tommy.

Kathryn Mowat Murphy’s Broadway credits include roles in Fosse and Pal Joey, in addition to appearances in Actors Equity national touring company productions of Chicago, Sweet Charity and A Chorus Line.

Austin Lesch has most recently been seen on Broadway in Altar Boys; he also toured with the hit musical. His additional credits include Ragtime, Parade and Candide.

Stephanie Umoh’s credits include Bonnie and Clyde, Hair, Ragtime and The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin. She also has performed as a featured soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Tickets are available at the Teatro Ángela Peralta box office and all La Conexión locations.