In this collection of six plays written by Jon Tuttle and performed at Columbia, SC's cutting edge Trutus Theatre over a 14 year period of time we trace not just the evolution of a playwright, but that of a theatre and a culture, as well. In his introduction, Thorne Compton writes that "In Jon Tuttle's world life is a confusing pile of colorful chips from a kaleidoscope that has long been smashed," and that "the fact that life is absurd and usually ends badly does not make it any less valuable ..." From The Hammerstone, which won the Trustus Playwright's Festival in 1994 before it went on to be performed in 17 states, to 2018's evocative Boy About Ten, Tuttle allows us to peek into the miracles and mundaneness of his characters, many of whose lack of adherence to normalcy is the most normal thing about them.
Jon Tuttle is Professor of English, Director of University Honors, the Nellie Cooke Sparrow Writer-in-Residence, a J. Loren Mason Distinguished Professor, and an FMU Trustees Distinguished Scholar at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina.