"Short plays are easier to get done," he explained. "When I was living in New York, I joined a playwriting group. I found out that in there everybody was writing short plays. I switched from long plays to short plays."

"Leddy's Chair" takes place in a retirement apartment building in Charlotte, N.C. Anewcomer comes in from out of town, a Southerner from Texas. "[The newcomer] starts to sit in a chair - Leddy's chair, a resident who just passed," Cook said. "We learn about their past and the personality of each of the men. At the end of the play, the newcomer has earned his place in Leddy's chair because he plays with words like they do. He plays pinnacle, and he's still interested in women."

"Leddy's Chair" is not Cook's first submission to the Nantucket Short Play Competition. He has only praise for the festival and Patrick.

"I've been impressed with the help I've received from Jim Patrick," he said. "He always gives me good feedback."
"DRIVERS TEST"

"The notion of apprenticeship is lost a little bit in the American scene," he said. "I understand that my apprenticeship is a little longer than most."

He also knows that writing full-time is an ideal that is reached by few.

"The history of American writers from Herman Melville to even the successes of F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway, everyone's got to apprenticeship. Look at Walt Whitman, who worked in the post office practically until the day he died," Witteveen said.

Witteveen's apprenticeship has kept him close to the things that inspire him to create. He described "Drivers Test" as "a grandfather and young kid who's just received his driver's license. It's a story about participating in life."

"Drivers Test" has the distinction of being a finalist this year in the Short Play Competition.

Witteveen enjoys the short play format, drawing parallels with his love of long distance running.

"I was a long distance runnerfor a lot of years - I competed," he said. "I think that writing short plays is likened to doing speed work. If you're competing in a 10k, in order to really be competitive as a long distance runner, you've got to do your speed work. It's the same in writing plays. You make a name for yourself in American theatres by writing longer plays, but to stay sharp you have to do the short plays. Writing short plays is really good for writing scenes in long plays. There is absolutely zero time in short plays for exposition."
"AFTERWARDS"

"In American theater right now, if you are trying to break in, one acts are the way to do it," he said. "Theatres began to realize if they do an evening of one act plays, they can give many playwrights a chance to showcase their work."

This dedication means he listens to what the audiences and the business want.

"Because that's what the market is asking for, I sort of do concentrate on oneacts, but I'm eager to move into the full length area," he said.

He gave a brief glimpse into "Afterwards," explaining it as "a play about a couple that has a rather impulsive one-night stand and then wake up together. The point is that they sort of have to get to know each other. The trick of it is that it's a view as much of their fantasies of each other and then their consciousness of the reality of themselves and the situation."

Zygmunt offers glowing praise for Patrick and the Nantucket Short Play Competition.

"Because [the Nantucket Short Play Competition] has been so successful for so many years, playwrights are really thrilled to have it on their resume," he said. "Mr. Patrick is an outstanding contributor to the theatre

scene." I

"Lessons Learned" will be performed Thursday through Saturday, October 25 through 27 at 7:30 p.m. upstairs at the Methodist Church, 2 Centre Street. Performances will continue the following week on Thursday through Saturday, November 1 through 3. Admission is $10. For reservations and information you can contact the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket at 241-1760.