Freud on Cocaine

[NoHo Arts District, CA] – If you missed it the first time, here’s your chance. Freud on Cocaine, the outrageous new comedy based on the documented letters, notes, dreams and recollections of Sigmund Freud that attest to his decade-long use of cocaine in his practice and personal life, returns to the Whitefire Theatre for a second run in 2024.

Jonathan Slavin (Santa Clarita Diet, Dr. Ken, Better Off Ted) stars in the title role as one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century, a respected doctor, a loving husband, a devoted father — and a drug addict. Currently nominated for seven Broadway World awards.

“STAGE RAW TOP 10… DELIGHTFULLY DERANGED.” — Stage Raw

“OUTRAGEOUS… be ready to laugh.” — Culver City News

“A TOTAL MINDBLOWER. — Curtain Up

“SUPERB… some of the funniest lines in the contemporary theatre scene.” —Glamgical

“ROLLICKING… After all, things go better with coke.” — Hollywood Progressive

“A DRUG-LACED, DISCO-INFUSED ROMP.” — Larchmont Buzz

“FUNNY, CLEVER, FASCINATING.” — NoHoArtsDistrict.com

“NOT TO BE MISSED.” —  On Stage Los Angeles

“[A] HOME RUN.” — Queer Forty

“VERY FUNNY.” —Splash Magazines

“DELIGHTFUL… comedy and tragedy in equal parts.” —The World Through Night-Tinted Glasses

Fact: Freud used up to a gram of cocaine daily for at least a decade. Fact: Freud touted cocaine as a panacea for pain, exhaustion, low spirits, depression and morphine addiction. Fact: Merck Pharmaceuticals (Barry Brisco as Emanuel Merck) offered Freud free “product” in exchange for his continued research into its medical use. Fact: Freud slipped cocaine into the love letters he mailed to his German finacée (played by Sara Maraffino), keeping their engagement secret from his future mother-in-law (Sigute Miller). Fact: Freud convinced his fellow doctor and best friend, Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow (Aaron LaPlante), to use cocaine to control Ernst’s addiction to morphine after a painful accident. Fact: While treating patient Emma Eckstein (Amy Smallman–Winston) for the “nasogenital” cause of her hysteria, Freud and another doctor cauterized Eckstein’s nose with a gram of cocaine, nearly killing her after three surgeries. Fact: Freud on Cocaine is based on a collection of Freud’s writings that was edited by his daughter, Anna.

“Everything in this play that appears insane is actually true,” says Skora. “The comedy comes out of looking at the past through the lens of the present. We see how even someone as brilliant as Freud was a slave to the science of his time. The data and studies he relied on were published by an American periodical called the “Therapeutic Gazette,” owned by George Davis — the same man who owned Parke-Davis, the largest manufacturer of cocaine at the time. Until his dying day, Freud insisted that cocaine was not addictive. What scientific beliefs do we hold today that might seem equally crazy in the future?”

“Skora uses the sharp scalpel of humor to delve into the darker issues,” says Whitefire producing artistic director Bryan Rasmusson. “He’s an extremely gifted writer of black comedy whose last three plays were all monster successes for the Whitefire.”

Freud on Cocaine is based on Freud’s “Cocaine Papers,” which contains his letters, notes, dreams and recollections on the therapeutic use of cocaine, some of which were published in 1884 under the title “Über Coca.”

The cast also features Mitch Rosander in the role of the narrator. The creative team includes scenic designer Dusti Cunningham, costume designer Michael Mullen, and video designer John Knowles.