It’s one of my favorite stories from a professor of psychology at UWM. (I believe it was the late Dr. Fazio.) Back in the early days of psychopharmacology, he’d asked a nurse at a mental institution if the psychotropic meds they had been giving the patients had helped them at all. The nurse pointed to the curtains. Evidently before the advent of the “chemical straightjacket,” you couldn’t keep the curtains up. That was what was important back then evidently.
But there WAS an era where people were trying to help out people suffering from mental disorders. There was a guy named Dr. Walter Freeman who had advocated giving mental patients lobotomies in order to ease their discomfort. Back in the early 20th century, he’d invented the “ice pick” lobotomy, which is every bit as sinister as it sounds.
Of course, Dr. Freeman is the perfect choice in subject matter for a musical, right? From the official announcement:
Lobotomy: the Musical! is a penetrating look at the life and times of Dr. Walter Freeman, who pledged to ease the suffering of thousands of institutionalized mental patients in the 1940s, by any means necessary. Spurred on by the radical, experimental procedures of Portuguese neuroscientist Egas Moniz, Freeman took to drilling into his patients brains to ease their crippling anxiety - results were mixed. At best.
Sounds fun. But before it can be staged, it has to be cast. Later-on this month, Chris Holoyda will be holding auditions for the musical, which will be staged Aug. 5 - 12 at the Alchemist Theatre.
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Auditions take place of Mar. 20 from 2:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. From the official annoubncement:
Auditions will consist of the following:
1. Cold reads from the script
2. Singing - each auditioner will be asked to sing a verse and chorus of a song from the show (email lobotomythemusical@gmail.com for sound file and lyrics).
3. Dancing - Ms. Amanda Sinko will be Dance Commander of the show and lead dance auditions at 3:00 and 5:00.
For more information, visit the Facebook events page for the audition.
