Review: “A Therapy Session with Myself” at the Kraine Theater
Max Berry, Contributing Critic - New York City
Full Disclosure: The playwright, Anthony J. Piccione, is a former OnStage Blog staff writer.
“A Therapy Session with Myself” is the semi-autobiographical play written by Antony J. Piccione that tells the story of Alex (Nick Roy), a young college student struggling with social anxiety, depression, and Asperger’s syndrome. Alex is in his final year of school and has found himself without any friends, rarely going outside his apartment, and spending his day drinking large amounts of coffee and alcohol. One night, while he is struggling to write his play, he is visited by his conscience (Nicholas Capriotti) who begs him to start making changes in his life. The go through various points in Alex’s life in order to really understand just how he got here.
This is not a comfortable play, but it is an honest one, not only showing the outside forces that led Alex to wind up in the situation that he is in, but the inside ones as well. It forces Alex to confront his own choices just as much as the choices of others. It doesn’t assign blame to one person or one thing. It provides no easy answers and yet you leave with a sense of hope. Most of the play feels like crawling out of a deep deep well. I wanted these characters to succeed. I wanted Alex to get himself out of his situation. Each moment, though simple, felt crushing and suffocating. Piccione didn’t hyperbolize anything or take things into the overly theatrical. He kept everything simple. The monumental emotion and weight that this play maintained, was truly something that only happens once and awhile.
The core of the play was the trio of Alex, You, and Me. These three made up the various parts of Alex, his past represented by Me, his future by You and his present by himself. Each takes part in the story without any feeling that one overshadowed the other. All of the performances are top notch. Nathan Cusson’s monologue as Me that begins “My mind is fucked up” is incredibly moving each time it is delivered (with each delivery taking on a completely different context, a really beautiful touch). Nicholas Capriotti as You stands strong as the voice of reason, taking a similar role to the audience in wanting desperately to see Alex pull himself out of his situation. And of course, Nick Roy gives an astounding and tear-jerking performance as Alex.
Piccione says he wrote this play so that people could have a better understanding of how someone like him might be feeling and provide hope to those that are. I would say that he more than achieves that with “Therapy Session.” It is a truly moving play that provides unflinching, unedited, and honest insight into how some with Asperger’s syndrome as well as social anxiety and depression might be feeling. If there was anyone feeling similar to Alex in the audience, I have no doubt that they left the theatre with a little more hope and the feeling that they weren’t alone.
“A Therapy Session with Myself” was written by Anthony J. Piccione and directed by Holly Payne-Strange.
It featured: Nick Roy, Nicholas Capriotti, Nathan Cusson, Emily Weston, Ita Korenzecher, Tony Bozanich, Sonya Sagiev, Travis Martin, Dan Mauro, Mason Mickley, and Shir Kaufman.
It featured lighting design by Lindsey Ruzza.
It runs at the Kraine Theater (85 east 4th st. New York NY) November 16th, February 15th, March 21st, April 18th, and May 16th at 2PM
Photo: Nick Roy, Nathan Cusson Credit: Rachel Silver