The Trustus Plays: The Hammerstone, Drift, Holy Ghost

By Jon Tuttle

The Trustus Plays is an intriguing collection of three full-length plays by US playwright Jon Tuttle. The Hammerstone (1994) is an academic comedy about two professors aging gracelessly; Drift (1998) is a dark comedy about marriage and divorce, and, Holy Ghost (2005) portrays the plight of German POW’s kept in camps in the American South. Each is a winner of the national Trustus Playwrights Festival contest, and each has been produced by the Trustus Theatre, in Columbia, South Carolina.Tuttle’s introduction discusses the existential underpinnings of the plays, and Trustus founder and Artistic Director Jim Thigpen provides a preface describing the theatre’s dedication to experimental, “edgy” social drama, and how Tuttle’s striking work has served that mission.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Intellect Books Ltd
• Release date: Feb 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781841502953

Book preview

THE HAMMERSTONE

When we grew up and went to school

there were certain teachers who would

hurt the children any way they could.

– Roger Waters

SETTING: Somewhere in the American southwest is a public liberal arts college with virtually no admission requirements. Its buildings are for the most part adobe and are worn down enough after many years in the sun and wind to suggest a ruin.

This college is represented on stage by two offices, one in the Humanities Building (Murray’s), and the other in the Social Sciences building (Victor’s). Though the offices are adjacent on stage, it should be established that they are not actually next door to one another. Perhaps a crumbling wall separates the two; perhaps they face different directions.

In Victor’s office there’s an old wooden desk and bookcase, upon which will sit (when he puts it there) an ancient human skull and a jar of coins. There’s a plaque on the wall, but otherwise not much that would qualify as decoration. A door is upstage or to one side, as is a window. The office is neat enough, although like its occupant, some dust has settled on it.

Murray’s office is much more lively and bright. He’s got a metal desk and bookcase and probably some colorful prints or posters on the wall, plus some miscellaneous junk. His window is on the implied downstage wall, looking out upon the audience.

There is also a Teaching Area, down center, between the offices, where Victor, Murray and later Dotty will stand to address their classes. Ideally, it will be approached from up center (as opposed to from the wings). When Victor or Dotty is teaching, it will be from behind a lectern. Murray doesn’t need a lectern, but perhaps he uses a stool.

The action takes place in the present, over the course of several days. References to sports or popular culture figures can be updated in production, at the director’s discretion.

A NOTE ON INDIAN POKER

At two points in the play, Victor and Murray play a variation of an elementary poker game commonly called Indian, which calls for each player to take a card and, without looking at it, hold it up to his forehead where the other players can see it. Betting proceeds blindly, each player hoping he has a better card than the others. It’s a good game for good bluffers.

The game Victor and Murray play follows the same fundamental logic, except that it is played with five cards per player. Each player takes a card and places it in a headset (a war bonnet), and a round of betting follows. The next card is then placed, and another round of betting follows, and so on until all five cards are placed and played, or until someone folds.

A war bonnet can be any contraption which can fit snugly around a person’s cranium and securely hold five cards. The cards might be slipped into a cloth bandanna, stuck onto a plastic headband or secured with paperclips or clothespins. In any case, it should look pretty stupid. Fake Indian braids attached to the sides would not be inappropriate.

Instead of playing with poker chips, Murray and Victor play with coins. Murray may have a cloth bag or something that he keeps his in, while Victor uses a small jar, which should be made somewhat conspicuous in the first act. Their betting should be gracefully and unobtrusively woven into their conversations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This play owes much to the research of Dr. Christy G. Turner, II, and to the wit of Dr. Tom Dabbs. Thanks also to Jayce Tromsness, Melissa Swick, David Avin, Lisa Davis, and everyone at the 1994 South Carolina Playwrights Conference.

Leda and the Swan by W. B. Yeats is reprinted with permission of Simon and Schuster, Inc., from The Poems of W. B. Yeats, edited by Richard J. Finneran, copyright © 1928, McMillan Publishing Co. Copyright © renewed 1954 by Georgie Yeats.

The Song of Wandering Aengus by W. B. Yeats is in the Public Domain.

THE HAMMERSTONE premiered at the Trustus Theatre in Columbia, South Carolina, on August 12, 1994, as the winner of the Trustus Playwrights’ Festival. It was produced by Kay Thigpen and directed by Jim Thigpen. The set design was by Brian Riley and the production stage manager was Dorcas Bean. The cast was as follows:

Melissa Swick (Dotty) meets her class for the first time in Act I. Photo: Jocelyn Sanders.

THE HAMMERSTONE

ACT ONE

Prologue

(With house lights still up, perhaps even while members of the audience are still finding their seats, VICTOR Ransome enters and approaches his lectern in the Teaching Area. He looks rather dour and fails in his attempts to contain his contempt for his students—the audience.)