Viktor Frankl Symposium: “The Many Legacies of Viktor Frankl” A roundtable discussion featuring Dr. William Breitbart, Rabbi Darren Levine (Tamid Synagogue), Christopher Domig (Sea Dog Theater/The Viktor Frankl Project), and Eileen O’Shea, DNP, APRN-BC, CHPPN

Man’s Search for Meaning: A Symposium on Viktor Frankl

“The Many Legacies of Viktor Frankl” A roundtable discussion featuring Dr. William Breitbart, Rabbi Darren Levine (Tamid Synagogue), Christopher Domig (Sea Dog Theater/The Viktor Frankl Project), and Eileen O’Shea, DNP, APRN-BC, CHPPN

This symposium will explore the life, ideas, and continued relevance of the oft-overlooked Jewish intellectual and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, borne out of his experience of the Holocaust, has had a profound yet underappreciated influence on a wide variety of disciplines and on generations of readers.  The symposium, in the spirit of the Jesuit ideal of cura personalis, encourages the Fairfield community to reflect upon their search for meaning in a disorienting time of rapid technological, societal and political change. Through lectures, performance, and conversation, this symposium will bring scholars, medical practitioners, religious leaders, artists and others together through interdisciplinary and interfaith dialogue.

Please join us for a conversation about the many legacies of Viktor Frankl. Dr. William Breitbart (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) is a widely-recognized and extensively published leader in the field of psycho-oncology and a pioneer of Meaning-Center Psychotherapy for cancer patients. Rabbi Darren Levine is the founding rabbi of Tamid synagogue (NYC) and the founder of Positive Judaism: A New Vision for Jewish Life in the 21st Century. Christopher Domig is an actor and writer who serves as the Artistic Director of NYC’s award-winning Sea Dog Theater and host of the Viktor Frankl Project podcast.

William Breitbart, M.D. is The Jimmie C. Holland Chair in Psychiatric Oncology, Attending Psychiatrist, Psychiatry Service, and Immediate Past Chairman (10/2014-8/2025) in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY. He is the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the International Psycho-oncology Society (IPOS), the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS), and the American Cancer Society. Dr. Breitbart also served as President Emeritus of IPOS. Dr. Breitbart's research efforts focus on psychiatric aspects of cancer and palliative care. His most recent efforts focus on Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for cancer patients. He has had continuous NIH RO1 funding of investigator initiated research since 1989. Dr. Breitbart was PI of the “Network Project, NCI R25 grant (1992-98) which trained clinicians in cancer pain management and psycho-oncology.  He is currently PI of R25 CA190169 which is training a national cohort of cancer care clinicians in Meaning Centered Psychotherapy. He has over 400 peer review publications, chapters and review papers, and 13 textbooks including: Psycho-oncology - 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Editions; the treatment manuals for Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy in Advanced Cancer Patients, and Individual Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Advanced Cancer Patient; and Meaning Centered Psychotherapy in the Cancer Setting from Oxford University Press. Dr. Breitbart is Editor-in-Chief, of Cambridge University Press’ international palliative care journal entitled, “Palliative & Supportive Care”.

Darren Levine is the founding rabbi of Tamid and first set the vision for our synagogue in 2011. He cares deeply about building community, moral education, and creative Jewish expression and is the founder of Positive Judaism: A New Vision for Jewish Life in the 21st Century. He holds Rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and has a Doctorate in Pastoral Psychology from the Post Graduate Center for Mental Health. He hosts a regular podcast, and his book, “Positive Judaism: A Rabbi’s Guide to Wellbeing and Happiness” is available wherever books are sold.

Christopher J. Domig is an Austrian-American actor, writer, and theater artist, and the Artistic Director of Sea Dog Theater in New York City. His work as an actor has been recognized with three nominations for the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Actor and the NYC Fringe Festival Award for Best Actor. His practice emphasizes actor-driven, text-centered performance, often in site-specific and nontraditional spaces.

As Artistic Director, Domig has led Sea Dog Theater for nearly a decade, overseeing productions that have received significant critical recognition, including the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Revival (Danny and the Deep Blue Sea), the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Revival (Tuesdays with Morrie), and Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing!, named one of the ten best theatrical productions of 2025. His research-creation work examines questions of meaning, alienation, reconciliation, moral responsibility, and community formation. He has spent over a decade developing a theatrical adaptation of Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning and co-hosts The Frankl Project podcast, which examines Frankl’s work across psychology, theology, and the arts.

www.seadogtheater.org,  www.christopherdomig.com

Eileen O’Shea, DNP, APRN-BC, CHPPN, is a nursing professor and directs the Kanarek Center for Palliative Care Nursing Education at Fairfield University's Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies, where she integrates palliative care across undergraduate and graduate curricula. In 2023, she founded the Pediatric Palliative Coalition of Connecticut to build clinical and community partnerships that advance pediatric palliative‑care standards statewide. Her scholarship—publications and national presentations—focuses on palliative and end‑of‑life care education and improving clinical care for children with serious illness and their families.

Hosted by the Humanities Institute, Bennett Center for Judaic Studies, Kanarek Center for Palliative Care and Nursing Education, and the Dean of Meditz College of Arts and Sciences. The organizers are grateful to Robin Bennett Kanarek for her generous support. 

Thursday, March 19th 5:00 pm  
Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies - Kanarek Center 103/104