I’m Not Kidding: What You Need Is a Placebo
In the late spring of this year I was directing a play called “Bad Seed” and my leading actress was having major private problems, among them was that her middle-aged father had had a major heart attach and she was the primary member of her family having to cope with this shocking event while at the same time holding a fulltime job as an administrator at a law firm and, of course, starring in my play. She is a terrific actor, one who memorized her huge part almost immediately and performed it well, but she told me she wasn’t sleeping at night. “One or two hours at most,” was her sheepish confession. I was very worried and I quizzed her about various possibilities: warm milk, over the counter sleep aids, doctor prescriptions. “Tried them all; didn’t work.” This went on for over a week and my concern deepened. I sat down and told her all about my own reactions to my father’s sudden death (see Related Posts below), so she under...