LOU is the story of Lou Salome, one of the first female psychoanalysts and an accomplished writer, poet, novelist and early scholar of the psychology of female sexuality. Lou had deeply intimate relationships with Freud, Nietzsche, and Rilke, along with other great thinkers of the day. Her brilliance matched (if not surpassed) that of these great men, though her work is hardly known. Through Salome’s search for identity and fight to claim her place in a world dominated by men, the question arises: how far have we truly come? An all female cast comes together to reclaim her story, portraying these men through the mind and memory of the great Lou Salome.

The cast will feature Mieko Gavia (Summoned with Black Revolutionary Theater Workshop), Natasha Hakata (This Just In! with Crashbox Theatre Company), Erika Phoebus (Kiss It, Make It Better at The New Ohio), Jenny Leona* (The Beekeeper’s Daughter at Theater for the New City), Olivia Jampol (member of The Bats at The Flea), and Valeria Avina (The Colors of Frida at Teatro SEA) with Costume Design by Katja Andreiev (Beardo with Pipeline Theatre Company), Sound Design by Almeda Beynon (Mytho? Lure of Wildness at Abrons Arts Center) Lighting Design by Becky Heisler (We Are Animals at The Brick), and Set Design by Marisa Kaugars (Scorched with The Araca Projects). *Appearing courtesy of the Actors’ Equity Association.