Storyteller Peter Aguero shares his "Daddy Issues" at Artisphere The last line of Peter Aguero's one-man show "Daddy Issues" used to be, "I will always be my father's son." About six months ago he changed it to, "I will never be my father's son." "As I have gone through the show," Aguero says, "I realized that ... just because I grew up a certain way and was formed by the behavior of a certain person doesn't mean I have to be that kind of person." Three-hundred and fifty pounds of raw emotion and wry humor, Aguero, 38, has spent the past seven years captivating audiences at New York storytelling collective The Moth with tales from his tumultuous life. Aguero grew up in rural New Jersey with parents who were stuck in a Sisyphean cycle of fighting, breaking up and getting back together. Aguero's father, a Vietnam vet who didn't have the happiest childhood either, could ignite with rage at any moment. "I was always walking on eggshells," Aguero says. As an adult, Aguero saw eerie similarities between his dad's anger and his own unpredictable temper. About a year ago, that inspired him to write "Daddy Issues" - which he'll perform at Artisphere twice this weekend - and to get a therapist. Digging up his worst, most traumatic memories quickly became a full-time job. "It's hard to have your focus be on this crap relationship you had, but it had been affecting every other relationship in my life and my relationship to myself, so I couldn't run away from it anymore," he says. Therapy helped Aguero stop worrying that the people he loved might turn on him at any moment. It also improved his writing. "Going to therapy took all the pressure off of the storytelling," he says. What I did on stage didn't have to be the thing that would save me. I don't think either of the things, the therapy or doing the show, would have worked out as well if I hadn't been doing both. Aguero's relationship with his dad, however, is as rocky as ever. His father hasn't seen the show, but he did read about it online, Aguero says. "He's of the opinion that I shouldn't be allowed to talk about him onstage, but it's not really about him," Aguero says. The show is about what you do when you have someone in your life that doesn't love you. Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m., $15.