Rex Daugherty’s tuneful and truth-filled The Well — now at District Fringe — could as well succeed on its own as an excellent concert. It would need no more dramaturgy than that; its musicianship suffices. Standing center stage at a mic, playing his guitar (alternating between acoustic and electric), wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, and boots, the composer-lyricist-balladeer sings one terrific song after another in a performance that, musically and vocally, brings to mind the grit and conviction of Bruce Springsteen.
Accompanying Daugherty from stage right is Jonathan Feuer on guitar and percussion (here not a drum kit but a cajón); and from stage left, music director Emily Erickson, on keyboard, sings lovely backup vocals. It’s a well-honed act that would vibe with the crowd at any of many popular dives.
But Daugherty is here not only to entertain but to tell some truth: the searing story of his father’s 25-year-long gambling addiction and how it impacted young Rex and their entire family. Daugherty engages with the audience in the present, asking, by show of hands, about our own proximity to addiction. His purpose is not to shame but to model honest admission and release from self-denial, and in that he does something epic. Narrating his own by turns amusing and moving father-son story — in direct address, over instrumentals, or in open-wound lyrics — Daugherty becomes, before our eyes and in our hearing, a troubador of troubles.
At times, when he gives voice to his father’s gruff speech, he seems to be channeling raw, remembered emotion, reliving a memory welling up within and behind his eyes. Director Jenna Place’s pacing of the show honors the beat of its hurting heart, and if in any way she enabled Daugherty’s vivid enactment of his father, particular credit is due. Daugherty’s difficult dad is in the house.
The songs in The Well, Daugherty tells us, were written over years in order to understand what his dad might be thinking and feeling. One in particular makes his dad present in an especially poignant way. As Daugherty explains the song’s backstory, we learn that his dad, while gambling at a casino, once butt-dialed his son from a phone in a front shirt pocket, such that Daugherty could overhear. Thus, eavesdropping, Daugherty transcribed onto his laptop his father’s rage-filled, out-of-control, site-specific monologue, which Daugherty then turned into the lyrics of a song that blew me away.
As Daugherty bears visceral witness to his broken, primal parental relationship, one cannot help but wonder how such a father’s son became the upstanding person who stands before us. How did young Rex become now-43-year-old Rex — husband, father, and esteemed theatermaker?
Part of the answer arises in an unexpected narrative twist, as Daugherty pivots to his own story … of drinking more than he knows he should. This personal passage, about what he names his alcohol abuse, is an extraordinary example of what happens when one looks at what’s flawed inside oneself and recognizes some resonance with what is flawed in someone else.
The Well’s theme is only partly about addiction. It’s also, I would say mainly, about forgiveness — something Daugherty acknowledges he has struggled to extend to his father. “Forgiveness isn’t real until you give it,” Daugherty says. “You can think it all you want, but it’s not the thought that counts. The words count.”
The moral arc Daugherty models in The Well is profound and worth every moment of one’s life spent engaging with this powerful work of art. Faced with what he cannot forgive in his father, he looks into himself and finds there that which also needs to be forgiven.
The heart-clutching last line brings that redemptive import home.
The Well
By Rex Daugherty
Running Time: 70 minutes
Dates and Times:
Saturday, July 18, 4:30 PM
Sunday, July 19, 9:30 PM (masks required)
Wednesday, July 22, 9:00 PM
Saturday, July 25, 4:00 PM
Sunday, July 26, 7:30 PM
Venue: Phoenix – UDC Mainstage Venue
Tickets: $15
More Info and Tickets
Genre: Musical
Company based: DC area
Website: https://www.rex-daugherty.com/
Directed by: Jenna Place – Director, Emily Erickson – Music Director
Performed by: Rex Daugherty, Jonathan Feuer, Emily Erickson
The program for The Well is online here.
The complete 2026 District Fringe Festival lineup is online here.
The 2026 District Fringe Festival calendar is online here.
