Pound (Digital Script)

Ezra Pound was a literary lion and ferocious anti-Semite. Charged with treason during WWII for supporting fascism, he faced possible execution. But, before he could be tried, Pound was found mentally incompetent and confined at St. Elizabeths Hospital where, for 12 years, his life was renewed. Then, in 1958, as the play begins, the overbearing 73-year-old Pound faces the terrifying prospect of being released back into the world. Help arrives in Ann Polley, a young psychiatrist who aspires to help the man who has been labeled “incurable.” At first, her treatment seems promising. But then her techniques become disturbing, reducing Pound to childlike vulnerability. Finally, Ann reveals her true purpose—revenge against the man whose wartime radio broadcasts demonized Jews and called for a purge that consumed, with many others, Ann’s parents. Pound explores whether words can be as powerful as actions, whether revenge can be just, and whether sanity is possible when we’re made to see the world as it is and not as we would have it.