NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

By: Jim Hodges

It began when he saw a friend's mother with her head in a scarf. Where once there was hair, now there were remnants of her fight with breast cancer.

"She reminded me of a pirate," Paul Schutte said in his office in Building 1268, where he works in engineering human factors in aircraft systems designs.

"And pirates, well they lose things. A hand becomes a hook. A leg becomes a peg."

Paul Schutte wrote "The Pirates of the Chemotherapy" after seeing a friend's mother who was going through breast cancer therapy. Credit: NASA/Denise Lineberry

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And "Pirates of the Chemotherapy" becomes a play written and produced by Schutte to benefit Sisters Network – Norfolk Chapter, Beyond Boobs! and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Both organizations fight breast cancer and support women with it.

"Pirates of the Chemotherapy" is being held Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Mary T. Christian Auditorium on the campus of Thomas Nelson Community College.

The play involves six women who are dealing with various stages of breast cancer. They are meeting in a church to support each other as they go through discovery and treatment of the disease, through denial and acceptance, through tragedy and comedy.

"Pirates of the Chemotherapy" is unusual for several reasons, beginning with its being written by a man. Most books and stories about breast cancer are written by survivors of victims or the victims themselves.

"I'm sure if a woman wrote it, the dialog would be completely different," Schutte said.

He researched the disease by reading books and then reading blogs of victims. The blogs were particularly enlightening.

"You pick things up," he said. "One of the things I found out is that, during chemotherapy, some people lose their focus, get scatterbrained. They call it 'chemo-brained.' "

After writing the first draft of the play – there are seven drafts now – almost two years ago, he gave it to two women for input. That prompted yet another draft.

A couple of cast members won awards at a Smithfield Little Theater competition in which an abbreviated version of "Pirates of Chemotherapy" was entered. And performances in Williamsburg in September added $1,000 to the charities' coffers.

It's all part of the evolutionary process of writing a story. This is Schutte's sixth play in the past five years. His interest in the theater dates back that far, when he used it in dealing with a personal crisis.

It's been therapeutic. Going from performing to writing plays was part of a natural progression. Producing them is another story. He produced the play in Williamsburg, his first try at production, "and it's eye opening," Schutte said of dealing with details, such as tickets, rehearsal space and times, even small props. Because the play is set in a basement room of a church, there is no scenery.

The logistics of production demanded time, and so did being the playwright, which seems a never-ending task.

But being the producer is its own reward, as Schutte is finding in the Thomas Nelson performances in which he has little control over what is done with his work.

The beginning of the process was the story. "I knew there was a story there to tell," Schutte said.

And in the end, the message is the same one that every breast cancer commercial has: the value of early detection.

"Pirates of the Chemotherapy" gets that message across a bit differently from the standard television commercial. Schutte's play's message is this: "Cancer tries to bring you down. Laughter lifts you up. Fortunately, only one is contagious."

Tickets for "Pirates of Chemotherapy" are $16 and are available at the door at the Mary T. Christian Auditorium at Thomas Nelson Community College or by calling 757-224-8937 or visiting MKTix.com.


 
NASA Langley Research Center
Managing Editor: Jim Hodges
Executive Editor and Responsible NASA Official: H. Keith Henry
Editor and Curator: Denise Lineberry