The Daily Gamecock

'Boy About Ten' tackles the perils of fatherhood

While developing the premise of his most recent play, “Boy About Ten”, playwright Jon Tuttle admits he had “no idea what it might be about.” However, what he did know was that he wanted to fall in love with writing again. Intent on creating the funniest story he could think of, he conjured up a tale that involves KISS, a quest for redemption and a woman with a poked out eye.

For those who were expecting a more conventional play, the show is anything but.

"Boy About Ten," which premieres on Aug. 17 at Trustus Theatre, follows Terry Spooner, a man on a mission to win back his ex-wife after poking out her eye during sex. At the same time, he hopes to mend his relationship with his two sons, despite the fact that his level of maturity is just as developed, or rather undeveloped, as theirs. While the dysfunctional family's situation does present its more serious moments, Tuttle stresses that the show is mostly played for laughs. According to Tuttle, “it's a comedy that hurts.”

“This play was not written to hold a mirror up to society, but it does say something, I hope, about the obligations of parenting,” Tuttle said. “The title, BOY ABOUT TEN, refers to an actual ten year old boy, and also his older brother, to whom something traumatic happened when he was ten, and to the father, who has all the maturity of a maladjusted ten-year-old.”  

Tuttle, a South Carolina native and an English professor at Francis Marion University, has been a playwright in residence at Trustus since winning the Trustus Playwright Festival for a second time in 1998. While “Boy About Ten” marks his sixth play with the theatre, the playwright confesses that even after all of these years, his self-doubt in his work never truly goes away.

However, Tuttle couldn’t be happier to collaborate with the cast and crew of the project, who he believes has eased both his anxiety and the trasition of his story from the paper to the stage. Tuttle praised the show's director, Patrick Kelly, as "a committed and highly competent artist who knows exactly what he's doing."

In addition to directing, Kelly is a trained actor who serves as box office and production manager at the Trustus Theatre. He knew he wanted to become involved with the production because it was chance to work with Tuttle, an artist he describes as a "cornerstone of Trustus."

“Jon’s writing is so balanced - serious and absurd, smart and silly, poignant and whimsical - and this piece is no exception," Kelly said. "It’s a dark farce about family and the ties that bind as well as break us. It’s equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking and I just think it’s a knockout."

The cast is composed of three Trustus Company members and two rising talents, one of whom is an incoming USC freshman. 

“Working directly with the playwright, throwing ideas back and forth, watching the actors uncover the characters deeper levels, and then seeing those ideas and discoveries manifest in a new draft or a scene or a line is a real thrill,” Kelly said. 

Paul Kaufmann, the recent recipient of the 2019 South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship in Theatre: Acting, portrays the play’s man of the hour, Terry Spooner. Kaufmann, who has been acting with Trustus for 20 years, has performed in shows from New York to Australia. He’s known Kelly since he was a high school student, and even officiated his wedding. While Kaufmann has read Tuttle’s work before, this is his first time starring in a full production of one of his pieces.

“Terry is incredibly fun to play. Playwright Jon Tuttle ... has written such great dialogue," Kaufmann said.  “The scenes I have with my young son (played excellently by Daniel Rabinovich) contain so much they're rich with levels, but also tightly written rhythmically, so they've been artistically satisfying to create.”

After a little over a year of development, the cast and crew are in the process of wrapping up their five week production. 

When asked what message he hopes the audience leaves with, Tuttle has left it up to them to decide.

“Actually I'd like to see what message they come up with,” Tuttle said. “ I have already had people observe this family's profound dysfunction and say to me, 'actually, this is nothing, I've seen far, far worse.' That strikes me as very disturbing.”


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