When having non-stop conversations in his head and agonizing over the most mundane decisions becomes daily reality of living with OCD, finding a cure turns into obsession. Of course it does.
The Mushroom Cure is a comedian Adam Strauss’ true tale of his ongoing battle with OCD. Though he sees a shrink on a regular basis, cognitive therapy doesn’t seem to be working. When Adam learns about a scientific study showing that hallucinogenic mushrooms may help cure OCD, he’s on it. But magic mushrooms are hard to find; his pot dealer doesn’t have any, and inquiries from friends and fellow comedians turn up nothing. His new girlfriend highly recommends a different plant (cactus), so, the two of them spend a long weekend tripping. As a bonus, we learn some useful information about various psychedelics and how to prepare and use them. Adam even produces a shot glass of already processed cactus concoction, right on stage, and asks if anyone wants to partake. There’re no volunteers, so he proceeds to drink it himself.
Even the stage is set up to allude to his illness: a small side table next to the performer’s chair has 5 full glasses of water; during the show Adam intermittently drinks from all of them, possibly in some special order.
It takes real courage to talk (and laugh) about the psychological torment of a one’s mental illness, and Adam’s willingness to have an open conversation about it is remarkable. The show is occasionally funny, but it mostly puts the audience into shrink’s shoes where we just listen to him vent and recall conversations. In the end, he learns how to help himself, and that might be the entire point of his quest.
The Mushroom Cure is a one man show. Written and performed by New-York based comedian Adam Strauss, directed by Jonathan Libman, it garnered widespread acclaim as well as New York International Fringe Festival’s Excellence Award for Solo Performance.
The Mushroom Cure is being performed at Greenhouse Theater Center through June 9th.
