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Preparations for “For Better or For Worse” began in January. But locals will only have one night to see the play written and produced by Rick Watson, who hails from 22nd and Catharine streets.
“This is the first play I’ve done for one night. We’re looking for new promoters, so we’re only playing in Philadelphia for one night only,” Watson said.
“For Better or For Worse,” which will grace the stage at the Merriam Theater July 30, is the seventh staged work by the playwright. The story follows a married couple, where the husband’s adultery gets him tangled in a homicide and the wife eventually reveals she has secrets of her own.
“I write all different kinds of stories. I think all writers tell the same story, but we all tell it differently,” Watson said. “I thought about my parents and I wanted to do a couple plays about marriage. … I was planning for it to be what I am doing with it now. I got enough recognition that I wanted to start going to very large venues.”
While the July 30 showcase will hopefully attract and attach a promoter, Watson has already laid out a 12-city tour that he intends for “For Better or For Worse,” and he will go it alone if he must. The cast includes, R&B singer Tony Terry, Yvette Money, Tank and John Canada.
“I’m overly excited it’s going well. The cast is really doing well. I feel that I am criticizing the very last things. We feel great about it,” he said. “The following I have and the new people that come to see it, they are going to be very, very impressed. This is something different and it’s urban theater. We’re very ready and the songs are beautiful. We’re oh so ready.”
Watson has the advantage of a large family who remains in the South of South area where he still makes his home. Though not everyone can attend, he expects to have a good showing of supporters on opening night.
“I have a huge family, so like half of them [came to my last play]. In any huge family, you have lots of different personalities. But my family, they even help sometimes. They come out and they all help me with anything I need,” Watson said. “You need people you can trust to count the money and stuff. My family is very supportive.”
Watson has moved many times in his life, but never more than a few blocks in radius. Growing up on 19th and Pierce streets, he also had roots at 22nd and Latona streets before settling at his 22nd and Catharine home. He attended the former St. John Neumann High School, 26th and Moore streets, and eventually finished early schooling at South Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad St.
“I went to [college] for a minute. I was always into singing songs and writing songs with my family,” Watson said of the time he spent at the Pennsylvania Business Institute.
Watson’s life took a wrong turn and he landed himself in prison in the early ’90s. While serving his sentence, he found he had stories to tell.
“I wound up getting caught up in the streets and I was a product of my environment. It’s not a justification but a reality,” he said. “In jail, things came to me. The way my parents raised me, I had disappointed them. I had children and I didn’t want to disappoint them.
“I went to school in there and wound up making the dean’s list — they called it the president’s list. I had time to think and really slow down … I never actually took church seriously, but I got a chance to settle and then the readings and things became clear to me. I realized what my gift was. That point, being incarcerated — I never say that jail’s a great thing, but for me, I had a chance to slow down and I think I’m really successful now.”
The majority of Watson’s already staged work was penned during his incarceration, and he also wrote six movie scripts during this time. Between writing, he began to think about how he could give back and has now made that an integral part of his mission.
“I have an organization that’s funded by me, Caring For Underprivileged People. I got an award. I was very amazed to get it cause I didn’t do this to get awards,” Watson said. “[U.S. Rep.] Chaka Fattah gave me the Men Making A Difference Award. It was pretty cool to receive that. I was kind of overwhelmed.”
Part of the program is working to get kids to listen, which is something Watson feels personally failed him as a youth.
“I try to bring out people to speak to the kids about making better decisions. We have entertainment and education together. I figured if I give kids what they want and what they need, they would be more attentive,” he said. “I want to make sure as I grow, I have a foundation for my giving back.”
As he embarks on the latest chapter of his professional growth with the opening of “For Better or For Worse” at the largest venue he has played to-date, Watson is thankful for all the success so far and hopeful for more to come.
“I want people to see how much, how detrimental things can get, how bad it can get when you go astray and how the true love you started with can be broken,” Watson said of the new work. “No matter how much temptation comes you have to remember what is really important to you.” SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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