Inside A.C.T.

posted by Linda Lagemann, Ph.D., Wendy Stern, D.M.H., and A.C.T. Group Sales Manager Edward Budworth The fifth season of the wildly successful Theater on the Couch program at A.C.T. started off running after the performance of Brief Encounter on Friday, September 18. Dr. Linda Lagemann and Dr. Wendy Stern of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis were the panelists. Cast member Joseph Alessi joined in and brought many insights into the characters he portrays. In this production, boundaries were broken. As cast members appeared in the audience and live characters entered movie scenes, the production created in us the feelings that the two protagonists, Laura and Alec, have as they breach boundaries. Fantasy and reality were also blended—aspects of the play were structured like a dream. The visual images projected on the back wall and the music expressed the unconscious feelings of the characters bubbling up. A perfect vehicle for a lively discussion! From a psychoanalyti...

posted by Edward Budworth, A.C.T. Group Sales and Linda Lagemann, Ph.D. “Sweeney Todd has revenge issues.” “Hedda Gabler suffers from an Electra complex.” “Maggie the Cat is in heavy denial.” Since Sigmund is no longer around to comment on the characters in dramatic literature, A.C.T. started a program called Theater on the Couch to explore the inherent neuroses, psychoses, and downright insanity that afflict some of our favorite icons of the stage. The idea for Theater on the Couch came to us when representatives of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis (then known as the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute & Society) attended a performance of Eve Ensler’s The Good Body at A.C.T. in the spring of 2004. We hit it off immediately and began thinking of ways our two institutions could collaborate. A.C.T. regularly offers audience discussions with actors, playwrights, directors, designers, etc., so why not, we figured, add psychoanalysts to the mix and have a discussi...