Rick Ames Brings His One-Man Show About Cemeteries to Burlington

RIck Ames at St. Joseph Cemetery in Burlington Credit: Daria Bishop

When COVID-19 lockdowns went into effect, sending introverts into the ecstasy of mandated isolation, extrovert Rick Ames found himself adrift.

A Burlington writer and performer who once played 80 roles in four years, Ames was in the throes of rehearsals to portray Agatha Trunchbull in Lyric Theatre’s Matilda. Opening night was just three weeks away when the mammoth production screeched to a halt, scattering cast, crew and musicians like dandelion fluff on the wind.

Ames found himself in a cemetery. He had probably walked by St. Joseph Cemetery on Archibald Street hundreds of times on the way to and from his job at the hospital, but when the pandemic hit, he started going in. Then he walked through Mount Calvary Cemetery across the street. He continued on to the Mount Calvary annex, just across Pomeroy Street, then to other cemeteries in Burlington and well beyond.

“People said, ‘Why are you going to cemeteries?’ And I said, “Because there’s no known cases of COVID there and everybody’s at least six feet away from you,'” Ames said.

He took pictures of whatever caught his eye — names, stonework, wildlife — and posted them on Facebook under the titles “Searching for the Words,” “Still Searching,” “Plot Devices” and “More Plot Devices.” His tour continued for a year and a half — “It was becoming a bit of an addiction,” he said — encompassing more than 200 cemeteries in four states and producing an estimated 10,000 photos.

“We would spend, like, seven or eight hours — maybe 10 — just bouncing from cemetery to cemetery.” Sonja Heins

Ames, who performs as G. Richard Ames, turned them into his fourth one-man show of original material. Remains to Be Seen: The Deadventures of Cemetery Gary debuted at QuarryWorks Theater in Adamant last fall and runs Thursday through Sunday, April 20 through 23, at Off Center for the Dramatic Arts in Burlington. Part slideshow lecture, the performance also includes singing and audience participation.

Despite a coffin onstage and some somber moments, it’s not necessarily a spooky show, Ames said: “There’s a lot of humor in it, as well.” He wants audience members to laugh, cry, think “and feel better, I hope, when they leave.”

His old Facebook posts offer a sneak preview. One cemetery photo shows a stone bench with legs carved to look like two of Snow White’s seven dwarfs. “Dopey and Grumpy,” Ames wrote, “which, coincidentally, were the nicknames of the couple buried here.” A November 2020 photo shows a gravestone that features a large picture of the deceased, mustachioed and shirtless. “Last week I saw my first recent cleavage picture at a cemetery,” Ames commented, adding, “this is the first beefcake shot I’ve seen.”

A large stone in Randolph was engraved, front and back, with the accomplishments of the man below, while, in Fletcher, fresh flowers adorned the grave of a little girl who had died more than 100 years ago. A pocket watch dangled from yet another stone. “It’s obvious it’s been there for years,” Ames said. “But nobody takes it.”

Ames plotted itineraries. Before visiting an area, he searched for cemeteries online, then looked for them on Google Maps. Not all are marked, he said, but if, in satellite view, you see a green patch with “what looks like little rows of teeth, it’s a cemetery.”

His friend Sonja Heins accompanied him on lots of trips. “At times, we would spend, like, seven or eight hours — maybe 10 — just bouncing from cemetery to cemetery in one day,” she said. When Ames wanted more information, he consulted websites such as findagrave.com.

He didn’t seek out the graves of famous people, though he did find Dom DeLuise’s at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, where he paused to thank the actor-comedian for the laughs. Calvary has 3 million graves, the most of any cemetery in the U.S.

Ames deliberately did not visit New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen, because that’s where his parents plan to be buried. “I’m going to go there enough later on,” he said, tearing up. His father deeded Ames the family plot at Union Cemetery in nearby Laconia. “That’s the only piece of land I’ve ever owned,” he said. But this self-described “hyper-mental” guy doesn’t sound like he’s made a firm decision on whether he wants to be interred there.

What would he put on his own gravestone?

Maybe the quote he saw on someone else’s: “The world is my country, and to do good, my religion.”

Anyone in search of an epitaph can see several on the big screen this weekend, Ames said, adding, “If you love hard rock, you’ll love this show.”

The original print version of this article was headlined “Plot Twist | Rick Ames brings his one-man show about cemeteries to Burlington”