The Dear Boy

Full-length drama / 1f, 3m

James Flanagan is not a kind teacher. Is he a good teacher? He likes to think so. On the verge of retirement, a potentially catastrophic argument with a troubled student sends Mr. Flanagan out into the night and New York City to the annual faculty Holiday party where he begins an unlikely romance. The following morning Flanagan must once again confront his student—this time to try to save the boy from himself. The Dear Boy is an intimate and dramatic portrait of a man forced to face his past, his present, and the life he may still yet live.

The Dear Boy was written with the support of the University of the South (Sewanee) and the Tennessee Williams Fellowship in Playwriting. The play has received subsequent development with Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, Geva Theatre Center, and Primary Stages. The Dear Boy received its world premiere at Second Stage Theatre, directed by Michael John Garcés.