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