Welcome Friend,

This is the Viktor Frankl Project. 

For over a decade I have been intrigued by the life and work of Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search For Meaning and founder of Logotherapy. Frankl’s work has had a profound impact on my life and for many others around the world. I am on a quest to understand why Frankl’s life and work continues to resonate and encourage people — especially during times of adversity and suffering — and how we might all benefit from understanding the principles of Logotherapy, his meaning-centered approach. 

My particular relationship to the Viktor Frankl Project is that of a storyteller. I am co-founder of Sea Dog Theater in New York City. I share with Viktor Frankl the passionate belief that meaning is always discovered in relationship to something or someone. The orientation towards others — and how we make sense of things — implies an ongoing narrative and I am very interested in how our personal narratives intersect with our search for meaning.

Whether you’ve never heard of Viktor Frankl or love his work, we are so glad you found us. We hope these resources will be encouraging to you. 

Best,

Chris Domig

What is the Viktor Frankl Project?

The Viktor Frankl Project has two components.

It is a series of conversations with people from various disciplines and backgrounds who share a love of Viktor Frankl. Together we will dialogue about the life of Viktor Frankl, his book Man’s Search For Meaning, Logotherapy, our individual and collective search for meaning, and what the current moment in history can teach us about what matters most.

Secondly, the Viktor Frankl Project serves an artistic purpose. Our theater company is in the process of devising a new play that explores the questions and insights of Frankl’s book Man’s Searching For Meaning and how Logotherapy serves as a useful framework through which to evaluate our own lives. Our ultimate goal is to develop a theatrical adaptation of Frankl’s legacy that is as riveting in the theater as the individual experience of reading his work has been for so many over the years. The process of developing this work began in 2019, was postponed due to the pandemic, and, recently, re-emerged as a workshop production at ART/NY’s Gural Theater in Manhattan in March of 2023. Stay tuned for updates on future productions.

Creative team

BRANDT ADAMS (WRITER) is a Brooklyn-based theater artist. This is his second project as a playwright for Sea Dog. The first was Not From Here, which was performed to sold out crowds in a suite at The Ace Hotel in spring of 2018. His first play, Dispatches from (A)mended America, co-written with Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr., was produced Off-Broadway in 2012 by Epic Theatre Ensemble at the Theater at the 14th Street Y and was published by NoPassport Press in 2018 as part of its Epic Plays anthology. He is currently at work on a series of one acts about anthropomorphic animals wrestling with the minutiae of day to day life in a world changing on a grand scale. Thanks to S&L&A, who fill his life with meaning. www.brandtadams.com

ERWIN MAAS (DIRECTOR) is a New York based theatermaker, curator, educator and international arts advocate from the Netherlands with extensive international experience across a variety of creative and community contexts. He’s excited to dive back into this material with these collaborators and with Sea Dog Theater. In New York, he directs numerous productions Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway as well as Site Specific. His directing work ranges from plays by contemporary playwrights to devised, interdisciplinary immersive projects, opera, music theater & dance with performances for all ages. He is the Co-Executive Director of the Pan-African Creative Exchange (PACE) & teaches as Adjunct Professor at CUNY Brooklyn College's MFA Performance & Interactive Media Arts Program. As former Artistic/Creative Director of the International Society for Performing Arts, Director of the Fellowship Program for the International Performing Arts for Youth and Director of Performing Arts for the Cultural Department of the Royal Netherlands Embassy & Consulates in the USA, Maas offers an extensive knowledge and network in the international cultural field with a focus on international cultural relations and policy. Erwin is a core-member of Theater Without Borders, a member of Georgetown University's Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics and of the Netherland-America Foundation Cultural Committee. He also serves on the Artistic Advisory Board of the ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, the First Nation Spiderwoman Theater, and DecadesOut, an organization at the intersection of Arts, Science & Policy - www.erwinmaas.com

CHRISTOPHER DOMIG (WRITER + PERFORMER)

GUY DE LANCEY (DESIGNER) is a conceptual detective in multiple disciplines. He is associate Director of the Movement Laboratory for research and practice in movement, technology and creativity at Barnard College, Columbia University. He was awarded a research grant to attend Fabrica, the Benetton Arts and Communications Center, Italy in collaboration with film director Godfrey Reggio and Benetton campaign director Oliviero Toscani. He works in theater and film, directing, design and scenography, cinematography, lighting design, research in narrative design, process design, and interactive technology. He has worked extensively in the performing arts as both director and designer, and has created and designed large scale immersive multimedia experiences from Seoul, South Korea to South Africa. Recently he created the scenography and projection design for ‘Breaking Bricks’ a ballet for the centenary of the Tulsa Race Massacre for Tulsa Ballet, choreographed by Jennifer Archibald. As well as the projection design light and scenography for ‘A Kid Like Rishi by Kees Roorda New York 2022. He also was Director of Photography for the feature film ‘Stockade’ to be released 2023. He has had artistic work exhibited at Signs and Symbols gallery New York (2020) and The Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art Austria (2021).

The A.R.T./New York Theatres are a project of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York) which provide state-of-the-art, accessible venues and top-line technical equipment at subsidized rates, so that the city’s small and emerging theatre companies can continue to experiment, grow, and produce new works. Founded in 1972, A.R.T./New York assists over 400 member theatres in realizing their rich artistic visions and serving their diverse audiences well. A.R.T./New York accomplishes this through providing progressive services to our members – from shared office and rehearsal spaces to technical assistance programs for emerging theatres. Because of this dedication to serving the needs of the nonprofit theatre community, A.R.T./New York has received numerous honors, including an Obie Award, an Innovative Theatre Award, a New York City Mayor’s Award for Arts & Culture, and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. For more information, please visit www.art-newyork.org.

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