Picture
​​Triumvirate Artists presenting
POUND
By
Sean O’Leary
Directed by Kathleen Butler
Starring
Christopher Lloyd
as Ezra Pound
                                      with
Kate Abbruzzese     Cynthia Darlow     Redman Maxfield
Set Design: Matthew Buttrey     
Lighting Design: Katherine Erickson     
Costume Design: Izzy Fields   
Production Stage Manager: Jack Gianino
Casting: McCorkle Casting Pat McCorkle (C.S.A.), Katja Zarolinski (C.S.A.)
October 1 - October 28, 2018
Limited Engagement - 16 performances only
at
The Lion Theatre on Theatre Row
410 W. 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
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BACKGROUND"

During World War II the American poet, Ezra Pound, made propaganda broadcasts for Mussolini’s fascist government.  As a result, he was charged with treason.  But, before he could be tried, Pound was judged to be mentally unfit to stand trial and was remanded to the custody of St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital, where he would remain from 1945 until 1958 when the indictment was dismissed and he was released. 
Near the end of his stay, this aggressive and manipulative man, who dominated St. Elizabeths much as he had the literary world in the first half of the 20th century, suddenly retreated into an emotional shell and, eventually, “The Great Silence” – a period of despair and seclusion from which he never fully recovered.  The play, POUND, imagines what might have happened in those last days at St. Elizabeths to irreversibly change the character of Ezra Pound.

SYNOPSIS

At rise the overbearing, 73 year-old Pound is confronted by Mary Polley, a young psychiatrist who aspires to help the man who has been labeled “incurable".  Pound dismisses her, as he has so many psychiatrists, but when he learns of his imminent release, he experiences an inexplicable dread that drives him to Mary for help.
Mary embarks on a course of treatment that, at first, seems merely peculiar and perhaps justified given the short time in which she has to work.  But, soon her techniques become disturbing, visiting extreme guilt upon Pound for a lifetime of manipulation and abuse.  Then, after reducing Pound to almost childlike vulnerability, Mary reveals her true purpose.
The play, POUND, challenges us with questions about whether words can be as powerful as actions, whether revenge can be just, and, ultimately, whether sanity is possible when we’re made to see the world as it is and not as we would have it.