Last week, the Ward Melville Players put on a production of The Rose Tattoo, a play written by Tennessee Williams in 1951. It follows the life of a Sicilian woman called Serafina delle Rose (played by Sam Hozven), who is deeply in love with her husband, Rosario, and consistently praises him, despite him smuggling illegal goods for a job. The next day, Rosario is shot by the police.

The story delves into the effects of Rosario’s death on Serafina and her teenage daughter, Rosa (played by Julia LaRotonda). Rosa has met a boy that she is interested in, though Serafina does not want her to be with him. After having locked away her clothes so she couldn’t leave the house, Serafina allows Rosa to attend her graduation. Serafina then finds out that while alive, her husband was having an affair with a woman called Estelle Hohengarte.

After graduation, Rosa brings home the boy she fancies, a sailor named Jack Hunter (played by Sean Amato). They believe they are alone in the house, but Serafina interrupts them and begins interrogating Jack, making him swear to the Virgin Mary that he will not disrespect Rosa’s innocence.

A few hours later, a salesman and an Italian truck driver called Alvaro (played byRyan Carlozzo) get into an argument near Serafina’s house over the way the salesman had been driving on the road. Serafina takes Alvaro into his home as they both cry over the different problems in their lives, and she offers to sew his torn jacket for him. They begin to take an interest in one another, though Serafina struggles with wanting Alvaro and wanting to honor her dead husband.

Alvaro returns later that day with rose oil in his hair and a rose tattoo on his chest, both things that defined her husband when he was alive, clearly to try to win her heart. He says he knows Estelle and calls her, confirming the affair Rosario had with her. She asks him to stay the night. In this way, she has found a way to move on from the death of her husband and is one step close to once again living a normal life.

The response to the show was overwhelmingly positive. Sophomore Hannah Bruno says that she really liked the show because of the incredible acting skills displayed by all of the cast, as well as the humorous elements of the show itself. She also commends the cast on working so hard to use their best possible Italian accents, which enabled them to add another dimension to the show.

Sam Hozven says that the show was a bit of a challenge for her. She had to learn to open up and convey her emotions on stage, which helped her to learn a lot. Sam put a lot of work into this production, especially being the lead of the show as well as working with the stage crew. But cast and crew alike worked diligently to make the show come together, which certainly showed in the final product. Sam loved the experience from working on The Rose Tattoo, saying, “It was a challenge for sure, but I wouldn’t have changed a single thing.”