PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
HOWARD GRADY BROWN
Age: 74
Lives in: Port St. Lucie
Occupation: Retired from the
printing business; a professional
playwright
Family: wife, Kathy; son and
daughter in Seattle with seven
grandchildren
Education: Bachelor of arts from Indiana University (speech
and theater, as well as German history); master of fine arts
from Stanford University (drama and directing)
Hobbies: Boating, theater, music, landscaping, reading.
Who inspires me: Eugene O’Neill, William Faulkner, Herman
Melville. “The best beginning lines ever are ‘Call me Ishmael’
(Moby Dick) and ‘They threw me off the hay truck around
noon’ (The Postman Always Rings Twice).
Something most people don’t know about me: “I’m a
licensed pilot. Flying used to be a hobby until it became too
expensive, and I had heart surgery.”
FORT
The Lady Swims Today has also been produced several times
in Florida with Brown directing. Scheduled as the first play
in the Pineapple Playhouse’s 2017-2018 season in Fort Pierce,
Hurricane Irma sank its chances. With no electricity, the show
was canceled and rescheduled for 2019.
Brown’s second wife passed away in 2008. Some years later
he reconnected with a former classmate online. He and Kathy
married in 2011, making it a point to travel to see his plays
performed.
The Browns recently traveled to New York with friends to
view an off-off-Broadway premier performance of The Bare
Truth, which Kathy calls Brown’s “Florida play.” The inspiration
for the plot came while having dinner with friends whose
daughter was moving near them. “I asked if she’d have a key
to their place, and they said no.”
From that small seed grew the plot of The Bare Truth. An older
couple moves to Florida to be near their middle-aged kids
but grow weary of their constant, unannounced visits. When
changing the locks on the door doesn’t solve the problem,
neighbors suggest they tell the kids they’ve become nudists.
“There’s no nudity in the comedy, but the eight characters
talk about it,” Brown says. “It’s kind of an ‘empty nest’ in
reverse situation. It also addresses the fact that older people >>
Port St. Lucie Magazine 41
PIERCE
ELLEN GILLETTE PHOTOS
Friend Jack Krantz, left, talks about the set with Brown for the March
presentation of his original play, The Lady Swims Today at the Pineapple
Playhouse in Fort Pierce. Krantz is one of the stars of the show as well, and
he recently traveled to New York to see another of Brown’s plays performed.
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