Sutton, a Dartmouth theater professor, is the author of the new play "Complicit," which debuted this winter at London's Old Vic Theatre. The play was selected for production at Old Vic by actor Kevin Spacey, who currently serves as the theater's artistic director.
Sutton said he has enjoyed working with Spacey and values him as much as an administrator as he values him as a creative talent.
"Each person feels like they have his ear, and solutions are never rushed," Sutton said in an e-mail. "He has enormous patience. And enormous trust. And he makes those qualities contagious."
"Complicit" stars Richard Dreyfuss as Ben Kritzer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who struggles to maintain his relationship with his family while facing a grand jury trial for his reporting on the American government's torture practices. David Suchet and Elizabeth McGovern join Dreyfuss on the stage as Kritzer's lawyer and wife, respectively.
The play explores ethical questions related to torture and freedom of speech, which Sutton said he believes have a special relevance in the post-9/11 era. Sutton cited the Valerie Plame case as one of his sources of inspiration.
Sutton said he was particularly disturbed that, as part of the Plame affair, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for 12 weeks for refusing to testify about her communications with her source, Scooter Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.
"I felt it was possible that a less scrupulous prosecutor might someday use his or her powers to jail reporters for entirely political reasons, to suppress dissent for instance ... and I wanted to write about that," he explained.
The staging of "Complicit" began in early December, and previews spanned the last weeks of January. This long preview period allowed the crew to make necessary adjustments before opening to the public.
As is often the case with Sutton's work, "Complicit" takes on contemporary social issues, and the action on stage relies on a realistic production in order to grip the audience.
Sutton explained that torture scenes he had originally written into "Complicit" had to be cut during the rehearsal period because the Old Vic's stage is set in the round, meaning that the audience is seated around the entire stage. With actors creeping onto the darkened stage in these scenes, Sutton said he feared the effect would be "unintentionally comic."
Thanks to an experienced cast, however, this became an opportunity to overcome technical obstacles and to further develop the play, he said.
"We've made our discoveries, and we're ready to share," he said.
Peter Hackett '75, chair of the Dartmouth theater department, explained that this kind of cooperation between actors and playwrights is one of the main tenets of the approach to teaching that he and Sutton share.
Sutton teaches advanced and beginner playwrighting in the Spring and Fall terms, and his students often collaborate with Hackett's directing students.
Sutton and Hackett, both theater majors, worked together on numerous productions at the Hopkins Center during the 1970s. Both alumni belonged to the Dartmouth Players, which Hackett described as an group of students who spent most of their time working in theater at the Hop.
"My student years at Dartmouth were filled with production," Sutton wrote in the e-mail. "I was at the Hop around the clock. We were forever putting on plays ... of our own, of the department's ... and we learned from the doing. No replacement for that."
Although Sutton knew as early as his time at Dartmouth that he wanted a career in theater, that career didn't have what he calls its "real beginnings" until seven years after he graduated.
Liz Ellison '09, a creative writing and theater double major who took Sutton's playwrighting classes, remembers Sutton making references to his experiences as a playwright to instruct his students.
Despite his international success, however, Ellison said Sutton remains down-to-earth in his rapport with students.
"I have the feeling that he would never be trying to mention, 'Oh my play is being premiered at the Old Vic,'" said Ellison, a former member of The Dartmouth staff.
Stephanie Morales '09, who also took Playwrighting I and II with Sutton, agreed that Sutton is a "down-to-earth, friendly, run of the mill professor."
"While's he's had a lot of success in the past, this brings it to a whole new level," Morales said.
Hackett hopes to stage "Complicit" at Dartmouth in the near future and said he looks forward to Sutton's return.
"It's great to have him here," Hackett said. "I've found that he's been a great friend as well as a great creative partner."
Sutton will be back on campus in the spring, teaching beginning and advanced playwrighting. In the fall, he will teach playwrighting again and will also co-teach a course on dramatic storytelling in theater and film with film studies professor Bill Phillips.
