Feature: BOY at Theatrical Outfit

Every year, Theatrical Outfit chooses a theme that best embodies their current season. The theme should be hopeful and send a positive message to the thousands of people that the company entertains each year. For their new 2017-2018 season, the Atlanta-based organization has chosen to promote diversity through the theme of character.

Take Quasimodo from their latest show of the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" - the perfect example of an outsider that shows great character to overcome diversity. Next, look at Adam Turner, the protagonist in their upcoming drama, BOY. Adam is a boy that is born male, but due to a botched surgical procedure is advised to be raised as a female. The show follows Adam's journey as he finds out that he is biologically male and decides to live his life as a man, despite having lived most of his life as a female.

Talk about a character that has character, right? Except the play is actually based on the true story of David Reimer. Playwright Anna Ziegler created the show with subtle changes that still keep the integrity of the story with excerpts taken from Reimer's sessions with his life-long physician, John Money.

When speaking to associate artistic director Clifton Guterman, the discussion of the plot seemed a little heavy. After all, this is a sensitive subject that brings the "nature versus nurture" debate to the forefront of the conversation. However, Guterman promises the show to have a comedic twist that is sure to brighten up the stage as the audience watches the character of Adam embrace his masculinity.

"It is so much more than a drama or a famous case or something that is upsetting, it is the opposite actually," explains Guterman.

Guterman knows firsthand about the power of this story as he plays the lead character of Adam. As a follower of the show since its New York debut, he brought the show to the table for a reading that Theatrical Outfit performed previously. When a show was needed to fill the second slot of the season, artistic director Tom Key and Guterman had an easy decision to make based on the reading's positive feedback.

Guterman had read the part in the reading so that transition was seamless. However, Key was also cast in the show as Adam's doctor, Dr. Wendell Barnes. This means that they will lead the cast on and off the stage in BOY. The remainder of this intimate cast is Matt Lewis, Daryl Lisa Fazio and Annie York with Melissa Foulger directing the show itself.

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BOY runs from September 30 through October 15 with previews on September 28 and 29. A special talkback performance will be available on October 13. Tickets can be purchased online.

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