Cast Requirements:

FRANCIS: A 33-year-old Captain in the United States Marine Corps.
DONAL’: A ghost (?).
SANTIKARO: A ghost (?). He is a Sekha: a learner, a noble disciple

Setting

The set consists of a roll-about green with a hole and flag off-set from center so that, when wheeled or turned, the flag is in a different position.  Plaques for each Tee and green as determined by the stage directions and scenes.

Synopsis

Francis is a thirty-three year old Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps who will not admit that he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome. It is common for people who have been traumatized to develop medical and psychological symptoms associated with the experience.

Francis and his wife divorced before he was sent with his Marine unit to Iraq. She, an engineer, was sent by her company to Iraq to rebuild bridges. On her way to the airport just outside Baghdad, she was killed by an improvised explosive devise. On a leave from the Corps for rest and recuperation he travels to Scotland where he has made plans to meet a friend for a round of golf at the birthplace of golf: St. Andrews, the Old Course. His friend sends his regrets. Francis is left at the practice tee where he meets an eccentric old man and they later meet an East Indian traveler in search of truth.

Author Biography

Thomas M. Kelly is the owner and Artistic director of the award-winning Thistle Dew Theatre, and founder of the Thistle Dew Playwright’s Workshop.  Local awards: Several “Elly” nominations and two Elly Awards: Best Overall Production for A Shayna Madel and best Set for Nighthawks and Night Café, based on the painting “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper. He has written and produced many children’s plays.   They feature Charlie (Prince Charlemagne de Coquille), a French Briard puppy, and Jay (Jaida de les Etoiles), a Persian Red Point feline” This is not our backyard, Charlie, You’re in trouble now, Charlie, and Wake up, Jay!  It’s Christmas!, 2006 winner of four local Elly Awards for Young People’s Theatre including Best Overall production. 

Kelly’s honors: The Butterfly Within is included in the Eileen Heckart Senior Drama Archives in the Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute at Ohio State University.

 Some of Kelly’s other works:

•  Ole’ Gimlet Eye is a biographical play about Major General Smedley Darlington Butler, U.S.M.C.  A man who defied the powers that were to wage a war against war in the days before World War II: “War is a racket!  I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”  In the 1930s, he revealed to the then ill President Roosevelt a scheme to replace him.  Roosevelt, with a “Presidential Assistant” by a conglomerate of financiers, bankers and industrialists, and he, Butler, would be appointed as the new “Dictator.”

• Zen and the Art of Making Par, Extreme Unction and How to Improve Your Life in Four Easy Moves are more recent, full-length and one-act plays.

8/6/10 - Thomas M. Kelly Buzz: Sac Live: Thistle Dew Theatre presents comedic helping of "Thirds" by Marcus Crowder, The Sacramento (CA) Bee

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See also Kelly's one-act FANA! and full-lengths ...smile, and smile, and be a villain, The Timekeeper, The Butterfly Within, Extreme Unction and Ba-Bang! Looking for plays for children?  How about Kelly's collection of short plays, The (Mis)Adventures of Charlie & Jay?