A GOD IN THE HOUSE
by Peter Selgin
Judith Birch, a music teacher stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, wants to end her life; Dr. Peter Katseus, a former pathologist, has invented a device for helping the terminally ill “die with dignity” that has him shunned by the entire medical establishment. Aided by her reluctantly devoted husband, Douglas, the couple seeks out Katseus, hoping he will agree to help her. But Judith’s indefatigable determination, along with her belief in Katseus and his mission, stir unanticipated feelings in the emotionally comatose doctor. Katseus rediscovers his own heart just in time to have it broken, as the cause that brought him and Judith together must ultimately divide them. A 21st Century Pygmalion, only instead of teaching her to speak, this Professor Higgins must help his subject die. The result is a drama of equal parts humor, irony, and pathos.
- Cast Size: 2M 1W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
Peter Selgin is the author of Drowning Lessons, winner of the 2007 Flannery O’Connor Award for Fiction, three novels, two children’s picture books, three books on the writer’s craft, and two essay collections. His memoir, The Inventors, won the 2017 Housatonic Book Award and was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. His 2020 novel, Duplicity, won the Best Indie Book Award and the Indie Excellence Book Award. His paintings and illustrations have been featured in The New Yorker, Forbes, Gourmet, and other publications. He teaches at Georgia College & State University, where he is nonfiction editor and art director of Arts & Letters, an international journal of prose and poetry.
I’m biassed! I played Katseus in this play’s premiere in Athens, Georgia (2023). This is a deeply poignant and moving play, leavened with subtle humor. In my 40-plus years of acting, I have never felt a deeper connection with my fellow actors on stage. It was a beautiful, painful experience. Audience members were also deeply moved; some with personal experiences of the subject matter. For some, truth be told, it was too much. It’s a terrific play. There are some technical challenges.
Review A God in the House.