Harris previously spoke about this show with Reminder Publishing\u2019s podcast, So That Reminds Me.<\/p>\n
Ken Harris talks \u00abFoes of a Minimum Wage Guard\u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n
Angela Grout talks with Ken Harris, star of the one man play, \u201cFoes of a Minimum Wage Guard,\u201d following a performance at the Agawam Senior Center in Agawam in August. Grout is producing the play Harris wrote based on his years as a security guard in Springfield area malls.
Reminder Publishing photo by Mike Lydick<\/p>\n
When the Eastfield Mall in Springfield closed during the summer of 2023, Ken Harris found himself unemployed \u2014 and began reflecting on his professional experiences working at several area malls as a security officer, loss prevention retail guard and special police officer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I found common among these environments is the presence of elderly mall walkers or shoppers. My mere presence in a uniform sparked recollection of their own past experiences working or visiting the mall and this prompted conversations of a past long gone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Harris said many of these stories about employee and employer relations, along with the problems of internal and external shoplifting, sounded interesting. \u201cAs an experienced stage actor and screenwriter, I thought these were some interesting stories that were still relevant today,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Hearing these stories over the years never left his mind. Often, he would stitch together certain ones to create his own story lines. After the Eastfield Mall closure, Harris said \u201ca fire was lit.\u201d He began the process of writing a one man play, \u201cFoes of a Minimum Wage Guard,\u201d since the characters were so \u201cflushed out\u201d to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt I was the one to do this because I knew the characters so intimately. It took me about a week writing longhand on a notepad to write the first draft,\u201d Harris said. He also credits actor Chazz Palminteri for inspiring him after Harris saw the 1993 movie \u201cBronx Tale.\u201d
\u201cI was inspired by his rise in the entertainment industry with his story that originated as a one man play before actor Robert DeNiro got involved and helped him make it into a feature film,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The 48-year-old Springfield native performs all 16 characters in the 60-minute stage play. The show is about the foes of a 68-year-old worker who has to deal with an arrogant, cheap boss who puts Harris (as main character Steve Smelly) in charge of loss prevention. Chaos and deep personal controversy occur for Smelly and the audience as they learn about retail theft and its impact on employees of a department store<\/p>\n
It took Harris a year of rewrites to polish the play. It debuted locally in the summer of 2024 at the Knights of Columbus in Chicopee, Now, \u201cFoes\u201d is headed to New York City on Nov. 8.<\/p>\n
Harris will perform \u201cFoes\u201d at the United Solo Theatre Festival, the world\u2019s largest solo theater festival. It annually showcases exceptional solo plays from across the country and around the world. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be part of this festival with a unique story with retail as a backdrop,\u201d said Harris.<\/p>\n
West Springfield resident Angela Grout, host and producer of the yWrite podcast, is the play\u2019s producer. Grout, who has produced several local plays, met Harris about two years ago and learned about the play. \u201cWhen Ken told me about \u2018Foes,\u2019 I was anxious to see him perform multiple characters in this story of a working retail guard,\u201d Grout said.<\/p>\n
After seeing \u201cFoes,\u201d Grout knew more audiences needed to see it. \u201cThe story line of retail theft and exactly what a security guard is permitted to do was eye opening, and Ken\u2019s delivery of the story was entertaining to say the least.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grout said it has been great working with Harris on the play. \u201cWe brought on director Michael Buster McMahon, a playwright and former standup comedian. With Buster\u2019s help, we created more humorous scenes and got the show to 60 minutes \u2014 which is perfect for the venues we are marketing to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris added that his character\u2019s journey in this story of \u201cutter retail chaos\u201d explores how one responds to unpleasant changes. \u201cShould we respond favorably or unethically? Change can come at any time, but it\u2019s never too late to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a former business owner, Grout said she understands the struggle the main character must face dealing with internal and external loss prevention. \u201cI felt the story had great value to not only create awareness of how retail theft can be prevented, but I also saw a great opportunity to produce it and market it to audiences within the aging communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The most challenging aspect of the play for Harris is sizing up the audience and having the energy channeled through the characters to keep them invested in the storyline.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal is to finish the show in 60 minutes; but often it may go an additional five or eight minutes, depending on the audience\u2019s response to gags and silly moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s exhausting for Harris to switch between the different characters, he said there are several keys to a successful show: drinking bottled water during the performance, keeping his energy up and having loads of fun with the characters that will be transmitted to those watching.<\/p>\n
\u201cFoes\u201d has been performed around the area during the past year and a half to prepare for its New York debut. Harris has performed this show in Chicopee, Northampton, Agawam, Holyoke and Hartford. Grout said the goal is to perform it at least once in every New England state during the next year.<\/p>\n
Harris said he\u2019s not ruled out doing this show with other actors, but said he would like to see it become successful on the national stage before moving in that direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the characters so well. I feel I\u2019m well-suited to introduce this story with them on the stage. My passion for this story and the elements in it is a spark of energy to keep it moving with the overall production,\u201d said Harris.<\/p>\n
The show will be in Theater Row, an off-Broadway theater located at 410 W42nd St. at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
Tickets can be purchased at unitedsolo.org\/the-19th-annual-united-solo-theatre-festival\/foes-of-a-minimum-wage-guard<\/a>.<\/p>\n Harris previously spoke about this show with Reminder Publishing\u2019s podcast, So That Reminds Me.<\/p>\n Ken Harris talks \u00abFoes of a Minimum Wage Guard\u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mike-Lydick-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Angela Grout talks with Ken Harris, star of the one man play, \u201cFoes of a Minimum Wage Guard,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-20146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}