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My Father's Son

nytheatre.com review by John Samuel Jordan
August 15, 2005

Jennie Contuzzi’s play My Father’s Son is a fascinating and disturbing drama about a very dysfunctional family. Unfortunately, Not a Toaster Productions’ performance of this piece falls short on a couple of levels.What does work is the story itself. It’s compelling, frightening, and I left the theatre feeling as though I had been punched in the stomach. First, we encounter Scott and Will, sitting on a car seat on a rock (not until the end of the play was I able to ascertain that this represented the cab of a pickup truck). Will, a graduating high school senior, has been accepted to Duke University and Scott is ending his junior year of high school. We also learn that there is a love/sex connection between these two young men, though this is not fully recognized by Scott as he has not come to terms with being gay.Next, Scott’s older brother Jonah arrives on the scene, hootin’ and hollerin’ all over the place. After Jonah exits, Scott confesses to Will that a few gay magazines had been found in the trash by his father (a fantastically-written, ominous offstage character, never seen or heard), who then proceeded to hit Scott. Scott has told his father they were not his, leading the father to believe they belonged to Jonah, who is sure to get the beating of his life.Will continues, to no avail, to get Scott to open up about their relationship. That’s the last we see of Will. Jonah then returns, after being beaten to a pulp by his father. This is where the story really picks up as we learn of the abuse Jonah has encountered through his life, the absentee mother’s role, and the throwing around of blame for the years of abuse.The problems with this production are twofold: the direction and the acting. I must give props to Joe Tuttle (Jonah), who takes his character to heart and gives as honest a performance as possible. Mark Souza (Will) also has some very fine moments, notably during the pre-show (make sure you get there early). Doug Singer’s interpretation of Scott, however, seems to be to over-dramatize every emotion, which takes away from the truthfulness. The direction by Adam R. Perlman is overflowing with long and choreographed dramatic pauses, which seem better suited for a film than the stage.The scenic design, once I figured out what the pieces represented, is perfect for the space. The costumes are fine, except for one particular shirt: as the storyline unfolds, Jonah presents Scott with a t-shirt from their youth; Scott puts it on and it fits almost perfectly (perhaps he was a large child). The lighting design by Kevin Hardy is appropriate.My Father’s Son is a very good script. With solid direction and confident actors who have the inner depth to tackle such characters, it has the potential to be a very affecting and necessary play.