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The faux rock work on mansion and garden walls for set, painted by Evelyn, helpmate to the playright.
My husband John has written a play! I designed the costumes and painted the sets. Here’s the press release on his play, which was performed in our small mountain town:
Victorian novelist George Meredith’s masterpiece, The Egoist, is brought to life in a stage adaptation to be produced by The Trinity Players of Weaverville. A three-act comedy drama, the play satirizes Victorian values but also deals with timeless themes such as self-absorption, compassion, the nature of love, and the exploitation of women’s vulnerability. The playwright, John R. Ward, is a longtime resident of Trinity County. Sixty-four years old, he is semiretired after a thirty-five-year career in book publishing. The Egoist is his first play. His love for Meredith’s novel and his ear for the language are evident in his careful crafting of the script, which simplifies Meredith’s plot and sharpens his message while retaining his genius for dialogue, characterization, and high drama.
An exceptional cast has been assembled by director Bob Nelson, who has produced many successful plays. Ethan Hammett plays Sir Willoughby Patterne, a snobbish and self-centered baronet. His lovely fiancée Clara Middleton, played by Arianna Reiter, discovers that she is engaged to a supreme egoist and seeks to be released from her vows.
Kathy Martens plays Laetitia Dale, Sir Willoughby’s faithful admirer. Sir Willoughby’s plain but sensitive cousin, Vernon Whitford, is played by Tom Nickerson. Robert Winston Mercy brings his professional acting experience to the role of Dr. Middleton, Clara’s scholarly and epicurean father. Michael Martens takes the role of Lieutenant-Colonel Horace De Craye, Sir Willoughby’s best man and a dashing ladies’ man. Sir Willoughby’s rambunctious young nephew, Crossjay Patterne, introduces Michael Jones.
George Meredith (1828–1909) was one of the preeminent novelists and poets of the late Victorian era. He was a keen student of human nature, and his novels deal with self-knowledge (or the lack of it). A feminist well ahead of his time, he loved both nature and science, hated sentimentality, and believed that selfishness and egoism were at the root of human difficulties. Unlike most Victorian novelists, Meredith chose comedy rather than tragedy to expose these human weaknesses. His gifts as a poet are displayed in the beauty of the dialogue in The Egoist.
For information on the play, please contact John R. Ward 530-778-3305 or jeward@shasta.com.
