When Sherman C. Ward Jr. was asked when he finished his original play, "Flowers," he laughed and said, "I think I still am finishing it. I keep changing some words on them."
So far, there have been no revolts by actors. It may just show that time is on his side.
Mr. Ward, 88, Dingman Point, Alexandria Bay, moved to the north country two years ago from New Jersey, where he was very active in community theater for nearly 50 years. In 2005, he received the Robert E. Gard Superior Volunteer Award from the American Association of Community Theatre. He also is an accomplished sculptor and oil and watercolor artist. He and his wife, Ann B., who were seasonal residents here before moving to the area permanently, are advisers for the North Country Arts Council.
"Flowers" will be part of four one-act plays to be presented Friday through Sunday by Watertown Little Theatre. Also on the lineup is another local playwright's creation, the one-minute play "The Moment" by Craig S. Thornton, Watertown, "Fin and Euba" by Audrey Cefaly and "Drugs Are Bad" by Jonathan Rand.
Mr. Ward said his play is set in 1995 and is unusual for a one-act play because it has a prologue and epilogue.
"Mostly, it's lighthearted but a serious subject," Mr. Ward said.
The idea for it was sparked when he read an item in a Missouri newspaper about flower thefts at a cemetery.
"It was just a little squib," Mr. Ward said. "I said, 'Oh, that sounds interesting.'"
The play is set in a minimalist cemetery. "It's about a mother and an adult daughter who steal silk flowers from graves," Mr. Ward said. "They clean the flowers and re-sell them. They are nasty people. One is shy and one is bold."
The mother is played by Little Theatre veteran Jane Bowman Jenkins.
"The mother has to learn two 'languages' — good and poor English," Mr. Ward said. "She comes from a poor area. But she has learned some good English if accosted in the cemetery."
Mrs. Jenkins is also challenged by the fact that she plays a deaf character, Mr. Ward said.
"She signs," he said. "I have her doing a hell of a lot of things."
The daughter is played by Sarah Hovey. Two cemetery workers are played by Nancy Wearne-Navarra and Peter Hovey.
Also in the "Flowers" cast: Terry Burgess as the cemetery groundskeeper; Cecilia Thompson as a policewoman; Bonnie McCormick as the cemetery manager and an "interred person"; Mrs. Wearne-Navarra as a bus driver and Peter Hovey as a bus helper. Mrs. Jenkins and Mrs. Hovey double as an "old lady" and a jogger, respectively.
Mrs. Hovey, Little Theatre president, said the group had planned its three shows for the season, which begins in September, and it didn't include the one-acts.
"We wouldn't have tried to sandwich in another one if it weren't for our respect and admiration for Sherman," Mrs. Hovey said. "He and his wife, Ann, are so supportive of Little Theatre and the arts in general that when he came to us with his play in hands and that little look on his face — we couldn't refuse."
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Mr. Thornton said he wrote "The Moment" as an experiment.
"It was a little exercise I did and it turned out to be something I liked," the producer at WWNY-TV said. "It amounts to, 'What is the definition of a moment?'"
It has two actors: Kris Rusho and Douglas Rice.
"It's a little existential," said Mr. Thornton, who has had plays produced in New York City and Los Angeles. "By the time you identify the moment, it's gone."
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In "Fin and Euba" by Audrey Cefaly, two female co-workers at a mill in the Florida panhandle sit on the front porch of their rooming house, smoking, drinking and contemplating their lives and their plans for escape from their situations.
It's directed byMrs. Hovey. The co-workers are played by Kris Rusho and Erin Lalonde.
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Mr. Rand's "Drugs Are Bad" is directed by Leonard J. Planes, Watertown High School Drama Club adviser and English. The club presented the play in January but adults will play the two main roles in the Little Theatre production: Steven E. Petrillose as the father; Heidi M. Bearup as the mother and Shane Coughlin as the son.
The play is a parody of after-school specials. It concerns Brad and his parents. The parents make a living out of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll and become discouraged when they find an algebra book in Brad's underwear drawer and other educational contraband in his backpack.
