It?s not what you?d expect to get when you ask senior citizens to write an essay on wit and wisdom.
Lutherville Patricia Montley?s entry, titled “The Unveiling,” was a sensuous short play about an aging couple who rekindles their romance, ending as they lay down on the bed.
Chosen as the winner of this year?s Baltimore County creative writing contest, Montley, 62, had an advantage: She?s a professional.
Ten of Montley?s 30 plays have been published, she?s won more than 12 playwriting contests, and her first nonfiction book, “In Nature?s Honor: Myths and Rituals Celebrating the Earth,” was published by Skinner House Books last year.
The book commemorates the Earth?s eight solar holidays, she said.
“Theater and ritual aren?t that far apart,” Montley said. “All theater came from ritual. I wanted to write this book for many years and celebrate the seasons.”
Montley?s interests are wide, from feminist satires to adaptations of Greek classics, to story theater versions of Japanese and Native American folktales.
She said she?s busy promoting her new book, including book signings at the local Borders Books store, and teaching playwriting in the Odyssey Program at Johns Hopkins University.
Montley was honored with the first-place prize Friday at the Catonsville Senior Center. William Hennick, of Towson, won second place in the annual contest and Carole Coleman, of Woodlawn, came in third.
