Christopher Lloyd stars as Ezra Pound.
This play captures Ezra Pound’s remaining days at St. Elizabeths Physiatrist Hospital where he is confronted by Ann Polley, a young physiatrist who aspires to help the man who has been labeled “incurable”. Pound dismisses her, as he has done with previous physiatrists, but when he learns of his eminent release, he experiences an inexplicable dread that drives him to Ann for help.
Ann embarks on a course of treatment that, at first, seems merely peculiar and perhaps justified given the short time she has to work. However, her techniques soon become disturbing, visiting extreme guilt upon Pound for a lifetime of manipulation and abuse. Then, after reducing Pound to almost childlike vulnerability, Ann 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.
