Pat Perrin's Blog

… one of the most unjust [wars] ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation … That was how Ulysses S. Grant described the Mexican-American War of 1846-48 in his Personal Memoirs. Years before he commanded the Union Armies during the American Civil War, Grant served in Mexico as a young lieutenant. Make no […]

The Lullaby Tree, my play about the life of Aesop, is available in hardback, paperback, and Kindle. It has been described as “a no-holds-barred literary and theatrical extravaganza of ideas that reels riotously between prose and verse, vulgarity and beauty, farce and heartbreak, earthiness and mysticism.” Who am I to disagree? Like Hamlet, Aesop has […]

For frantic boast and foolish word—Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!—Rudyard Kipling The City on the Hill is turning out its lightsand closing up for a long, long night.Heroes are cast out of their Valhalla;the halls ring with a clamor of cowards. Closed up for a long, long nightof drunken revels in the dark,the halls […]

Available in hardback, paperback, and Kindle, my play The Lullaby Tree is inspired by the shortest verse in the King James Bible: Jesus wept. —John 11:35 Here’s a bit of PR copy: A no-holds-barred literary and theatrical extravaganza of ideas, The Lullaby Tree reels riotously between prose and verse, vulgarity and beauty, farce and heartbreak, […]

Wim’s new play Wiser than the Night is a witty and sweeping drama of ideas that asks a trenchant question about democracy: “What went wrong?” Set in 1980 in the wake of Ronald Reagan’s election, Wiser than the Night brings together events of the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalinist tyranny, Russian folklore, and American history and politics. It […]

Here is the prologue to my full-length play The Mad Scene, which has been aptly described as “an Our Town about the French Reign of Terror.” It was developed during 2020-21 as part of the Theatre at St. John’s Cyber Salon, hosted by Mark Erson. The parts were read by Jenne Vath, Sally Plass, Maude […]

written for the dedication of the William S.E. Coleman Studio Theatre, June 18, 2016 But were you ever really here? Did you sit here brooding upon this cave’s sullen lip gazing over the bay of doves, a shrouded exile from lies and war and treachery, holding your worlds within? Did you come away from Athens […]

“Who are you writing for?” A respected friend of mine asked me that after reading my new play, Wiser than the Night. As it happened, Pat and I were discussing that very question over breakfast that morning. It’s a good question, I suppose. Maybe even the only question. I’ve always believed that writers must always […]

“My husband makes things that live forever.”“Then he must be a fool.” I’ve been doing a bit of work on my new play “The Rake’s Visit: A One-Act Capriccio on a Theme from Don Giovanni,” about a fictional meeting between Giacomo Casanova and Constanze Mozart (downloadable here). These new lines come right after a playful […]

“My husband makes things that live forever.”“Then he must be a fool.” I’ve been doing a bit of work on my new play “The Rake’s Visit: A One-Act Capriccio on a Theme from Don Giovanni,” about a fictional meeting between Giacomo Casanova and Constanze Mozart (downloadable here). These new lines come right after a playful […]