Ken Harris
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
SPRINGFIELD — When store detective Ken Harris was on the lookout for shoplifters at retailers in Springfield and Enfield, he was also taking mental notes and writing a one-man play about what he saw. The 47-year-old actor and playwright is now taking the stage, portraying all 10 characters in his comedic and dramatic production of “Foes of a Minimum Wage Guard.”
The play centers around a 68-year-old retail security officer named Steve — a “happy-go-lucky-guy” who walks around helping customers at the fictitious Fashion Spear department store. His job is to be visible, his mere presence is intended to discourage shoplifting. He’s not supposed to engage the criminals — his role is to call loss prevention officers to the scene. But when the head officer gets fired for stealing from the store, Steve is forced to replace him, taking on a job he knows he will hate.
“When he’s promoted against his will, due to a shortage of officers, he’s forced to confront shoplifters first-hand, which puts him out of his comfort zone, because he’s an old fashioned, friendly, ‘How you doing?’ type of guy,” said Harris. “Steve faces a series of obstacles that make him very uncomfortable, and he just tries to do his best to survive to stay employed.”
Steve’s greatest challenge comes when he catches his colleague, Gus, stealing merchandise. Gus and Steve were hired at the same time and have become close friends while working at the store for 20 years.
Steve is a widower whose wife died of cancer. He doesn’t have much of a life, other than going to work and church. He shares meals with his daughter but has a bad relationship with his son.
Gus, 62, has problems with the women he dates — and he does not like the company he works for because he thinks he is underpaid. He does various jobs, from working as a cashier to receiving deliveries of merchandise and running the back-room warehouse.
Gus is four days away from retirement when Steve catches him stealing.
“Gus has been stealing from the store for four years and selling the goods online. He’s making a hefty profit. His house is filled with stolen items that he’s taken from the store. When Steve sees this, he has to quickly decide whether he will turn him in to security officers. Gus is his friend, a guy Steve has trusted, the guy who’s been there since his wife passed away. Gus is also Godfather to his son and daughter,” said Harris.
Steve eventually reports Gus to authorities, the crook goes to jail and their friendship is fractured forever.
Steve does what he feels is right, but the decision to do so takes a heavy toll on him. “He confronts his boss, puts his foot down and says, ‘This job is not right for me. You’re wrong for putting me in this role. I quit. Here’s my badge,’” said Harris.
Ironically, the boss is impressed with Steve’s courage and gives him back his old job.
Beyond Steve and Gus, there are eight other characters in the play, including Susan Palmer, Gus’s ex-girlfriend who oversees the electronics department; Alex Midas, the grumpy, old shoe department manager; Jeff Osborne, a bully who works in the shoe department; and Sly Gomez, a young manager who oversees the hardware department.
Harris plays every role in the 90-minute production, memorizing 13,645 words in the 51-page script. “I took it slow, memorizing a page or two a day. The difficulties of creating a one-man play involve writing the first draft of the script, which took me less than a week, and two months of editing and polishing it. Then it took me another two and a half months to fully memorize the lines,” said Harris.
The Springfield playwright and actor has worked as a security officer at several stores in greater Springfield. He’s also been a greeter and security officer at Holyoke Community College. During the academic year, Harris is a part-time truant officer in the Springfield Public Schools.
Harris began acting in 1995 when he was a member of the drama club at the High School of Commerce in Springfield. He’s performed in local community theater and produced several independent films.
Fashion Spear is an old-style department store that failed to meet the needs of modern society, slow to embrace technology that would improve its customer service. Shoplifting also battered the fictitious store, as it does to real-life U.S. retailers. A National Retail Security Survey reports shoplifting totaled $100 billion in 2021.
Harris has had a front row seat to the crime that is devastating retailers — a point he tries to make in his play.
“It tackles the national problem of retail death. It’s a problem that’s not really highlighted in the theater,” he said.
Harris is also a freelance journalist who interviewed Chazz Palminteri for an article the Springfield man wrote about the Hollywood star. Palminteri appeared with Robert DeNiro in “A Bronx Tale,” a hit movie based on the one-man play Palminteri wrote, and starred in, about his life around the mafia.
During the interview, Harris said Palminteri offered to mentor him and watch him perform “Foes of a Minimum Wage Guard” on a Zoom call.
“He looked me dead in my eye and said, ‘If you can pull this off in 90 minutes, you got something.’ The hair just went up on the back of my neck. I remember him looking starkly at me and saying that. We connected and it was a wonderful collaboration,” said Harris.
Harris is scheduled to perform “Foes of a Minimum Wage Guard” July 21, at 1 p.m. at The Castle of Knights, 1597 Memorial Dr., Chicopee; Aug. 3, at 6 p.m. at Gasoline Alley, 250 Albany St., Springfield; Aug. 24, at 6 p.m. at Holyoke Media, 1 Court Plaza, Holyoke.
Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at swpupp.wixsite.com/safe, by contacting Cellar Door Productions 413-285-2024 or emailing Cellardoorproductions.dev@gmail.com.
