PAGING DR. FREUD

Craig Lucas’s last play, Prayer for My Enemy, concerned familial tribulations, the vagaries of desire, and the war in Iraq. Remarkably, Lucas’s The Singing Forest, in previews at the Public, takes on even more difficult subjects—more family tribulations, psychological trauma, and the Holocaust. The play—part tragedy, part farce—traces several generations of the Rieman family from 1930s Vienna to present-day New York. It features phone sex, estranged children, Starbucks, and an appearance by Sigmund Freud. (Can I get a cathexis with that macchiato?) Director Mark Wing-Davey organizes these genealogical exploits. Olympia Dukakis, Jonathan Groff, and Susan Pourfar are some of the branches on this thorny family tree.

Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 2 p.m.; Tuesdays, Sundays, 7 p.m. Starts: April 10. Continues through May 17, 2009