On this Throwback Thursday, I wanted to highlight a play of mine that received its premiere not too long ago (2023) in Tyler, Texas – namely, “A Flower of the Field” – a unique, intense drama about a lonely monk who tends to the sick and dying in Ireland during the height of the Black Death and his mysterious encounter with a woman who somehow knows his questionable past.
I wrote “A Flower of the Field” as my first play coming out of COVID (during which, for perhaps obvious reasons, there was a bit of a lull in my writing) and it remains one of my very favorite plays, because of its Christian themes, its artistic creativity, and its balance between being cerebral and also thrilling at the same time – a balance that is typically difficult to achieve.
Of all the plays I’ve written, I also received the most “instant feedback” about “Flower”, because, within six months of completing the play, it was a finalist in contests sponsored by FirstWorks Theater Group in Rhode Island, the American Bard Theater in New York, Shawnee Playhouse in Pennsylvania, and also Tyler Civic Theatre Center in Texas.
As a result of the play’s finalist status with Tyler Civic Theatre Center (TCTC), the play was given an excerpted reading with five other plays and voted the “audience favorite” – as a result of which the play was produced by TCTC in May 2024 in a wonderful production, which I was fortunate enough to see and which impressed me tremendously.
This experience was also very memorable for me because it resulted in the best social media review of a play of mine, from one of the theatergoers during the closing weekend:
This is a unique and riveting show!
Imagine getting on an amusement park ride with no other knowledge than “Bubonic Plague.” Your little train cart immediately moves into darkness and the vaguely anticipated historical themes — I’m picturing a warped “It’s A Small World” — but THEN the ride begins a clackety-clack climb that makes your palms sweat, as you realize the floor is about to drop and you’re in for way more twists and turns than you expected.
The script is interesting and well-written.
As a brand new play with a short run, this one might be easy to miss; but, trust me… DON’T!