'Father Psalm' delivers powerful anti-smoking message

Father Psalm," opened last Friday at the Bloomington Playwrights Project, located at 312 S. Washington. Part of the Cabaret Nouveau series, the show ran roughly 52 minutes and told the story of the horse racing Teater family. Duncan is a 13-year-old boy who must watch his father die from emphysema, because he would "walk a mile for a camel."\nDuncan Teater starred in this one-man show that told the experience of an admired father going from a strong protector of his wife, and a man who made his son feel secure as he helped teach him to tie a Windsor knot; to being kept alive by a ventilator. \nHumor, affectionate anecdotes, and parts of a family history make this emotional work written by actor, director, producer and Indiana University summa cum laude graduate something definitely worth seeing.\nThe show enjoyed a full house at its Saturday night performance, with an audience who saw a very convincing personal story of the possible end horrors of tobacco. \nTeater very cleverly made the audience understand what emphysema was by drawing on its similarities to asthma, and then interactively explained what it was like to not be able to breathe by having the whole audience expel the air from their lungs, pinch their noses shut, and wait for the body to enter a series of convulsions.\nAs a former smoker, Duncan Teater and the Bloomington Playwrights Project get a big thumbs up from me for making me realize how glad I am I quite smoking about a month ago. Also, after hearing Teater imitate the whir and gasp of a breathing machine and its tentacle like plastic tubing, I'll never go back.