Photo Flash: THE SWEET ABYSS Opens 8/14 At Trustus Theatre

Trustus Theatre has had a long-standing commitment to producing new works right here in South Carolina. Trustus wanted to create an annual festival where new plays would receive a professional production each year; therefore The Trustus Playwrights' Festival was established in 1988. Playwrights from all over the nation submit scripts for this festival, and each year a winner is chosen and that play gets a staged reading the year it wins, and then a full production the following year. Past winners have gone on to be published and have had productions on Broadway, in Hollywood, and at the Actors' Theatre in Louisville, KY. Past winner David Lindsay Abaire has even gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, for his Broadway hit Rabbit Hole.

The Trustus Playwrights' Festival is possible through sponsorship from The Muses, a group of supportive theatre fans who help underwrite the festival to keep bringing new and engaging works to the Trustus stage from America's up-and-coming playwrights.

This year, The Trustus Playwrights' Festival celebrates three-time winner, Jon Tuttle by producing his new show The Sweet Abyss. Jon Tuttle is Trustus' Playwright-in-Residence and Literary Manager and Professor of English at Francis Marion University. His plays have received over 100 productions in 25 states and include Trustus Playwrights' Festival winners Holy Ghost (2005), Drift (1998) and The Hammerstone (1994). His other published plays include The White Problem, Terminal Café, A Fish Story and Sonata for Armadillos. In 2009, Tuttle's plays The White Problem and Holy Ghost were published by Hub City Writers Project. Also in 2009, a collection of Tuttle's plays, The Trustus Plays, was published by Intellect Books and included The Hammerstone, Drift, and Holy Ghost.

Trustus Artistic Director Jim Thigpen is very excited to be producing another piece by Jon Tuttle. "Jon is a superb craftsman," said Thigpen. "Even his most eccentric characters are believable, and his dialogue is never self-conscious." With this newest Tuttle piece,

audiences can be rest assured they'll be taken on an unexpected journey filled with characters they've never imagined before.

With Tuttle's newest play The Sweet Abyss, audiences are introduced to Cass, a woman who is dealing with her over-protective husband, her health issues, and her defiant daughter Dori. Cass deeply loves her new cat, which provides her with all the solace and companionship she desires. However, when The cat falls ill, Cass is thrown into a world of grief and she has to go on a journey to find comfort again. What follows is Cass's personal journey and rebirth as she leaves her home and spends time with a unique psychiatrist and even a blind guru character who claims to be able to look through Cass's cat's eyes in the afterlife.
The subject matter of The Sweet Abyss is something very familiar to playwright Jon Tuttle. "My cat died in 2006 (of diabetes) in my arms, and I plunged into a crazy type of grief...the kind one would not ordinarily expect of a middle-aged, fairly well adjusted guy," said Tuttle. "I mean it was really surprising. My wife Cheryl said, ‘I'm just surprised you haven't dug him up.' And that's how the play was born." Tuttle went on to scour the web for "pet-grief" pages looking for some ideas on how to cope with his loss. "I found some pretty bizarre stuff, and I also found some really beautiful stuff. I learned that I probably wasn't losing my mind." Tuttle decided that this passage through grief over the loss of a pet would be the impetus for his next work at Trustus Theatre. "Since I've started talking to others about the play, I've heard from many, many people who want to talk about their grief. And I think: ‘good. This play is for you.'"

While some audience members might not have the experience of grieving over a pet, Tuttle sought to create a play that was universal in the experiences that were written about. "Here's what's different about this play," said Tuttle, "I didn't want to write literature, and I didn't want to make a statement. I just wanted to try to make something that was beautiful. I wanted it to resonate on an emotional level and for people to say, ‘yes, I've felt that way too.'" What resulted was the show becoming less about grief, and more about the relationship between a mother and daughter, and discovering what "happiness" truly is.

Helming this world premiere production is Trustus company member and director Dewey Scott Wiley, known for her past stagings of Tuttle's Holy Ghost and past Trustus hits Reefer Madness: The Musical and When Pigs Fly. Wiley has happily retained the cast she had for the staged reading of The Sweet Abyss in 2008. Playing Cass, our heroine who must navigate her way through the loss of her cat, is Trustus Company member Elena Martínez-Vidal (Parallel Lives: The Kathy and Mo Show, Copy Man). "I think that this play being written by a person who loves cats and having a lead actor who loves cats and has had similar experiences makes it deeper and richer," said Martínez-Vidal. "The one thing I don't like is how much I cry in this show," she joked. "I am not a pretty crier and am living with puffy eyes all the time right now."
Playing various roles throughout the show are Trustus company members Elisabeth Gray Heard (Rabbit Hole, Intimate Apparel) and Joe Morales (The Lieutenant of Inishmore, A Christmas Carol).

The Sweet Abyss promises to be a unique night of Columbia theatre as this world premiere event makes its way to the Trustus Main Stage for a limited run this August. With the vibrant writing of South Carolina playwright Jon Tuttle, the focused story-telling of Dewey Scott-Wiley, and the talent of this seasoned cast; this is a production that will bring something fresh and invigorating to the theatrical canon this year. Jon Tuttle's books will also be available for purchase at the theatre, and Tuttle will be signing copies on opening night.

Jon Tuttle's The Sweet Abyss opens Friday, August 14 at 8:00pm. It runs through August 22nd. Tickets are $22.50 on Fridays and Saturdays, $20 on Thursdays, $17.50 for adults and $15 for seniors, students, and military on Sundays. As with all Trustus non-musicals, Student Rush Tickets are available Fifteen Minutes PRior to curtain and are available to students at half the price of regular admission. Shows are at 7:30pm on Thursdays and 8:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The Sunday matinee is at 3:00pm on August 16th, and it is one of Trustus' IPWIC shows (I Pay What I Can) where is costs a $1 minimum donation to see the show.

Trustus Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street, behind the Gervais St. Publix. Parking is available on Lady St. The main stage entrance is located on the Publix side of the building.

The Sweet Abyss is the eighth and final main stage show of Trustus' 24th season. For more information call the box office Tuesdays through Saturdays 1-6 p.m. at 803-254-9732. Visit www.trustus.org for more show information and other season info.

PHOTOS BY: JASON STEELMAN

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