ESSPY is a comic-drama about a young medical student embarking on a journey he never expected. Although William is intellectually at the top of his class, he soon discovers that knowledge of science is only one ingredient in caring for a patient. While adept at making clinical diagnoses, intimate human interactions confound and bewilder him, until he encounters Anu, a young woman working in the Patient Simulation program (SP). The play follows their sessions over several years as it moves toward a profound and poignant climax, and poses the question – can empathy and compassion ever be taught?