Lost in the Cosmos (The Play)

Tom Key's stageplay adaptation of Percy's 1983 non-fiction "self-help" satire, Lost in the Cosmos, debuted in Atlanta, GA in February, 1996. Key wishes for the play to go on the road as well as hopes to produce other Percy works as stageplays. Below are the production's handbill information and a program supplement article about the play.


Playbill
Theatrical Outfit of Atlanta is extremely proud to announce the World Premiere of the stage adaptation of Walker Percy's "Lost in the Cosmos." Adapted to the stage by Theatrical Outfit producing artistic director Tom Key, "Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Seminar" will open with previews on Friday, February 9th, 1996 at the Fourteenth Street Playhouse followed by Opening Night on Wednesday, February 14th. The production is currently set to run through February 25th.

In this science-fiction parody, Harold Pierceson, a three time divorced dentist from Anaheim, California, participates in a self-help seminar in the hope it will be his last. Harold is required by the "seminar guides" to take a short preliminary self-help quiz to determine that he is, in fact, "lost in the cosmos." Consequently, he is included in a series of improvisational scenarios dealing with issues of war, space travel, envy and lust. He finds himself part of a tour group targeted for missile attack at the Parthenon, being given the choice to begin the human race anew on one of the moons of Jupiter and, finally, hosting the last Phil Donahue Show. Harold Pierceson begins the seminar as an American "everyman" trying to feel a little better about himself, and in the process, finds the answer to rescuing the human race from impending disaster.

LOST IN THE COSMOS: THE LAST SELF-HELP SEMINAR runs approximately 90 minutes and has no intermission.

Walker Percy won the National Book Award for his novel, "The Moviegoer." LOST IN THE COSMOS was considered by Percy and his close friend, Shelby Foote, to be his most important work.

Tom Key, along with an ensemble cast to include Derek Manson, Rosemary Newcott, and Shelly McCook, will perform.

For more information on bringing the play to your city, contact THEATRICAL OUTFIT.


Click below to read the supplement to the program of Key's stage production, Ann McCorquodale Burkhardt's hope in the Cosmos: A look at Walker Percy's and Tom Key's Lost in the Cosmos.

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