A one-person theatrical performance that is a biography of a real person such as Dr. Ruth Westheimer, needs to be approached with care and dignity. The mandate of telling a person’s life story is a noble undertaking.

Playwright Mark St. Germain, together with director Stephen Nachamie, actress Anne O’Sullivan and the technical crew at Shadowland Stages have fulfilled that obligation to the highest degree with “Becoming Dr. Ruth.”

St. Germain, who has a strong preference for writing historical fiction, has entertained us previously with the plays “Freud’s Last Session” and “The Best of Enemies,” (which dramatizes the relationship between a local KKK leader and a Black civil right organizer.

“Becoming Dr. Ruth” at Shadowland captures the essence of the tiny (4’7”), but formidable woman who escaped the Nazis with the aid of the Kindertransport and later joined the Haganah (the main Zionist paramilitary organization) in Jerusalem as a sniper.

Set in 1997, we find Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer (née German-born Karola Ruth Siegel) in her lovely apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan as she is packing to move. She treats the audience as her guests and, through the magic of theatrical projections, we are able to see the view from her apartment, and follow along with photos of her mother, father and grandmother, the train of the Kindertransport, on which she fled to Switzerland, her three husbands, her two children, and yes, even some advice about sex.

The play reveals a great deal of her life, including how she was wounded in Palestine, moved to Paris, studied psychology and emigrated to the United States. She earned her Master’s Degree and doctorate, taught and began her practice in sex therapy, becoming a radio talk show host (“Sexually Speaking”) in 1980, and moving on to TV (“The Dr. Ruth Show”), writing books, and becoming famous as Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

This production at Shadowland Stages marks the sixth time actress Anne O’Sullivan has performed the role, and the fourth time she’s been directed by Stephen Nachamie. The collaboration is clearly a delightful one for both. The production is seamless. The warmth fills the theatre. O’Sullivan is clearly having fun revealing the details of a life well lived.

Along the way, she shares some witticisms like, “Dates are very important… they are anchors for our memories. We don’t know who we are if we don’t remember who we were.” And my favorite: “The philosopher Hannah Arendt once said, ‘Education is the point at which we decide we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it.’”

O’Sullivan delivers Dr. Ruth’s story of courage and stamina with passion and tenderness. She’s funny, effective and poignant. Sometimes in anguish, sometimes in joy. She clearly loves her character, and she helps us to love her as well. “A lesson learned with humor is a lesson remembered,” she says. “Becoming Dr. Ruth” is a lesson we’ll remember for a long, long time.

A tremendous shoutout to the stage crew at Shadowland. The set, a well-furnished, upper-class apartment designed by Brian Prather is lovely, as are the projections he designed from which we can follow along with Dr. Ruth’s life. Credit also to carpenter Robert Costa and scenic artist Sheryl Richmond, and sound designer Dean Mahoney for the excellent voice-overs. And bravo to technical director Peter Johnson for overseeing it all.   

“Becoming Dr. Ruth” plays through October 5 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, and on Saturday and Sunday at 2pm at The Studio of Shadowland Stages located at 14 Market Street,  Ellenville. Call the box office for tickets at 845-647-5511.