The International Psychotherapy Institute

and co-sponsors

Baltimore-Washington Center for Psychoanalysis
Baltimore Society for Psychoanalytic Studies
New York Freudian Society
Washington Center for Psychoanalysis
Washington School of Psychiatry

present

in the Engage at Arena Stage Panel Series

"Artistic and Psychoanalytic Approaches to Understanding Character and Conflict"
RED at Arena Stage and Post-Matinee Discussion

with

Edward Gero, actor
Jill Scharff, psychoanalyst

Sunday February 5, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.

Join us at Arena Stage for RED, an award-winning two-character drama by John Logan, now playing at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth Street SW, Washington DC and for the post-matinee discussion with the star of the play, Edward Gero and psychoanalyst, Jill Scharff. Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Play, RED has been hailed by the New Yorker as "smart and scintillating" and by Variety as "an electrifying play of ideas."

In their post-show discussion, Edward Gero and Jill Scharff will talk together and with the audience, understanding the character and the conflict from the perspective of the actor inhabiting the role, the psychoanalyst responding to the unconscious dynamics of the man and his phase of development, and the audience engaged in the dramatic experience.

RED depicts one of the 20th century's finest artists at his greatest moment of struggle with his painting and his mortality. The brilliant and passionate Mark Rothko (Edward Gero) has hired a new assistant (Patrick Andrews) to help him with his most perplexing challenge yet: to create a definitive group of murals for an exclusive restaurant. As they mix the paint, stretch the canvas, and prime the surface, Rothko must reconcile not only the mix of art and commerce he's creating but also his relationship with the new generation of artists who threaten his very legacy. He must confront his own demons or be crushed by the ever-changing art world he helped create.

Edward Gero associate professor of theatre at George Mason University and 4-time Helen Hayes award-winning actor, explores the character of Rothko with the same insight and intensity that he brought to the roles of Nixon and Salieri at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, and as Scrooge at Ford's Theatre. At the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, he played Rothko in the first American company of RED directed by Tony award winner Robert Falls, and now comes with that production to the Arena Stage. For more information about Mr. Gero's process of creating Rothko, please visit his blog "The Making of RED" at www.geroasrothko.wordpress.com.

Jill Savege Scharff MD is a psychoanalyst in private practice with individuals, couples and families, co-founder of the International Psychotherapy Institute, and author of The Interpersonal Unconscious and playwright of King of Diamonds. She was the founding Chair of the Cosmos Theatre.

Price $60 per ticket (a substantial discount from the individually purchased ticket price). Please make your check payable to IPI, attention Anna Innes, Executive Administrator, International Psychotherapy Institute, 6612 Kennedy Drive, Chevy Chase, MD 20815-6504. Please reply by January 5 to be sure of a seat. CE credit available.