I n recent months, homelessness in Ocean County has been in the news. An encampment in Lakewood where people live in tents that have been set up in the woods made national news as officials pondered whether to leave the so-called “tent city” in place or try to remove the people and their places of residence.
Homelessness is also the main theme of Patricia Pattan’s two-act play “Harry,” which will be read at the Strand Theater, Lakewood, at 8 p.m. Nov. 16. Tickets will be $5. The reading is appropriate for all ages.
“The show sort of tells the truth,” said Pattan, 68, of Jackson, who said she is familiar with the Lakewood encampment.
“Everything I wrote about in the play, it actually has happened. People have died there and I feel that I am not trying to condemn the town or the people who live there in the settlement. I am saying there is a conflict between the two [sides] and I know there’s no place to go. In the play, I found them a place to go,” she said. Pattan calls “Harry” a “dramedy” (drama and comedy) and said it tells the story of a homeless man who reunites with a long-lost nephew after being spotted on a television news report. Harry, the lead character, moves in with his nephew, who grew up to become a doctor.
The new addition to the house happens without much discussion, much to the chagrin of the nephew’s high-society wife.
“That’s where the conflict comes from,” Pattan said. “Obviously the nephew likes Harry being there, but the housekeeper and the nephew’s daughter really grow attached to Harry as well.”
“Harry” is Pattan’s first foray into playwriting, and the 75-minute play has already begun making the rounds, having been taken to the Grange Theater in Howell for a reading on Oct. 7.
On Nov. 16 the play will make its reading debut at the Strand Theater in Lakewood as one of five plays to be featured in the “Playwrights on the Rise” series.
“I was very honored that [‘Harry’] was picked as a play,” Pattan said. “This is all very exciting and new to me because it’s my first play, and I’m not sure where it will go.”
Pattan, a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is no stranger to writing. Since getting her poetry published for the first time in high school, Pattan has plied the English language not only for pleasure but for her career in advertising after moving to the United States.
As the author of the book “When We Were Growing Up,” Pattan occasionally goes to Jackson schools to discuss the importance of literacy to children.
Currently, “Harry” is only being read by actors on stage. Pattan serves as the narrator. If all goes well, however, Pattan hopes to take “Harry” beyond its humble beginnings.
“I want to make this into a big production someday. There’s been some interest, but we’ll see where it goes,” she said.
By the time the curtain drops, Pattan said, she hopes the audience members will have had a few chuckles, some warm moments and had their eyes opened not only to theater, but also to what some people not too far from home are going through.
“I hope [people] will walk away from the show feeling a little more tolerant toward different kinds of people,” she said. “I think they will walk away with a good, warm feeling. I hope people will walk away from the show knowing that the worth of a human soul doesn’t become diminished because of circumstance.”