Some Historic/Some Hysteric December 7, 2006

Since neuropsychology was founded just before the Victorian era, it has undergone a century and a half of growing pains, none of which was more theatrical than the "Hysteria Shows," or clinical demonstrations, of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot of Paris during the 1870s and 1880s. He is known today as the founder of modern neurology. His lecture-demonstrations on a floodlit stage were open to the lay public, attracting the famous, the fashionable, and the aristocratic. They are inspiration for 'Some Historic/Some Hysteric,' a multimedia theater piece.