Forrest Bess: Art, Sex, and Madness

Friday. November 14th 2014 7:30–9:30 PM

Forrest Bess (1911-1977) lived most of his life as a bait fisherman in a
remote bayou on the Texas Gulf Coast. His art, discovered by New York City art dealer, Betty Parsons, was exhibited alongside prominent 20th century artists, including: Pollack and Rothko. This talk, based on the forthcoming e-book, Though This Be Madness, presents Bess's art, his life, and his progression from obsession to delusional insanity. CLICK HERE TO RSVP

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"The Chairs"

Friday. November 7th 2014 7:30–9:30 PM

Sam Schacht edits and directs this famous, absurdist, two-character play by Eugene Ionesco, who referred to The Chairs, written and debuted in 1952, as a tragic farce. It is a bleak yet comedic metaphor for human existence, much like the genre of Chaplin films. Renowned actors Rita Gardner and Ken Kimmins return to the CMPS stage to star in this production. CLICK HERE TO RSVP. 

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Don Giovanni or the Penis in Unrest

Friday, March 7th 2014, 7:30PM – 9:30PM

Don Giovanni, protagonist of Mozart’s opera by the same name, is the anti-hero, the debaucher, and the libertine, whose unremitting hypersexual behavior courts his own destruction yet he is never is satisfied. Has his search for sexual indulgence become an obligation? Does Don Giovanni suffer from a narcissistic personality disorder, or is he a mirror of our unleashed selves, the id unrestrained? We will explore these questions using multi media. Refreshments and a social follow the lecture.

In So Many Words

Friday, October 18^th, 2013 7:30–9:30 PM

This film documents the life of Dr. Lucy Daniels — her struggles with anorexia nervosa, the trauma of the brutal treatment methods in the 1950s, and the saving grace of her creative work and psychoanalysis. In telling the story of Daniel’s life, this experimental documentary takes the viewer on an intense psychic journey. The first of its kind, it weaves together “relational” recreations, animated dream sequences, constructed worlds, and intimate interviews to tell a story of survival and creativity filtered through the eyes of subject and filmmaker. Daniels joins Dr. Barbara D’Amato in an audience Q&A following the 69-minute screening. This 2013 film is directed and produced by Elisabeth Haviland James. Lucy Daniels, PhD is a prolific writer, working in private practice and in her foundation to help other creative individuals overcome emotional conflicts, often through an analysis of their dreams. In 1956, less than a year after her release from a hospital, a novel she had written there, Caleb, My Son, became a best seller and won her a Guggenheim Fellowship in literature. Daniels went on to publish several other novels. In 1991, she was named a Distinguished Friend of Psychoanalysis by The American Psychoanalytic Association, in 1995, an Honorary Colleague of the Association for Child Psychoanalysis, and in 2003 an honorary member of the North Carolina Psychoanalytic Society.