Former Oiler Bo Eason Is Still The Runt of The Litter

Photo courtesy runtofthelitter.com

​Eight years ago, we wrote of former Houston Oiler safety Bo Eason, who was premiering at Stages Theatre a searing autobiographical one-man play about his life and career.

Runt of the Litter was a fascinating, well-written, nicely acted look at the dark forces that drove Eason to the NFL, and the sometimes twisted relationships he had with his parents and his brother Tony, an intensely private Super Bowl quarterback for the New England Patriots.

Since then, the play went to Off-Broadway, where it got strong reviews from The New York Times and other papers.

Tonight Eason opens a 30-city tour of the play in Seattle.

His spokesperson, Breanne Davis, tells Hair Balls Eason will be doing 100 performances across America. So far Houston's not on the list; in fact most of the stops are in smaller cities.
Has Eason been doing nothing but Runt since the Houston premiere? Not at all, Davis says. In fact, this tour has been the first time he's performed it since the Off-broadway run.

He's carved out a career as a motivational speaker at schools and corporations, and he's been working with the children's charity XXI Kids 1st Foundation.

And he's still working in Hollywood. Frank Darabont, the director of The Shawshank Redemption, is still attached to the movie version of Runt, but that has been "in discussion" for years and years.

Playbill magazine says "Eason has penned a screenplay based on the 1924 U.S. Olympic rugby team for Leonardo DiCaprio's production company Appian Way, and is currently at work on a remake of the 1977 movie Something for Joey, the true story of Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti.

But it all began in Houston.

Runt really is a good piece of work, so here's hoping Eason gets continued success.