Troubles In Henry’s Nose

A Humorous and Uplifting Take on Personal Loss

I am pleased to offer you my play, Troubles in Henry’s Nose. The final period was put in during the fall of 2018 and was first presented at the Council on Aging in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on January 30, 2019, and that year on Cape Cod on August 14 at the Barnstable Comedy Club, on September 9 at the Council on Aging in Orleans, and on 31 January at the Harwich Senior Center.

The germ of the play -- a conversation I had in 1990 with the human resources manager, named Ruth, of a small market research firm in Indianapolis, Indiana, where I worked briefly. We got to talking, for some reason lost in the past, about problems of aging. She was probably 70 and had come out of retirement to work part time for the president of the company, whom she counted as a close friend. I was in my mid-40s and thought Ruth was really old. I asked her, “What is the worst thing about growing old?” She said, “Watching all your friends die.” I didn’t think much about it at the time. Fast forward to 2012, during which year I, recently divorced and alone, moved to Provincetown and began to take my lunches and dinners in community venues similar to the one in which I have set this play. After a year or so of watching my new friends die, it took little to convince me that I was living out Ruth’s answer to the question I had posed to her nearly 30 years before.

The play is designed as a chamber work to be read to seniors in intimate settings such as senior or community centers, retirement, or assisted living centers. This does not mean, however, that the play cannot be adapted to other venues. A professional or local community theatre may wish to put it up on stage. Many of the issues probed, such as the division between life and death, could be of interest to wider audiences. That the idea for the play came from a senior, almost 30 years ago, that actors took the play to heart, that center directors embraced the work, and that audiences have been profoundly moved say that the issues probed are still vibrant and resonate with seniors.

Some of the best people involved in theatre on the Cape helped me improve the work by giving generously of their time in rehearsal and performance. Their skill in reading scripts and delivering lines and their freely-given suggestions for improvement made the play incomparably better.

If you have questions or comments about Troubles in Henry’s Nose or anything else, I may be reached at bosworth.tim@gmail.com.