DANIEL JOHN KELLEY

So the reason I haven’t been posting since I vanquished the universe in the #operaplot competition is that things are heating up for this here doofy playwright:

First of all, tomorrow I’m heading to Israel tomorrow as part of Birthright! I’ll be spending 10 days exploring my heritage, and desperately keeping my old Jewish man impression in check. Fun times!

Also this summer is promising to be a busy one on the work front:

1. In June, a new Monster Literature show is going up: “The Emperor’s New…Monsters!”

When the evil wizard Zorlan Morlan steals  Hans Christian Anderson’s classic story “The Emperor’s New Clothes”, it’s up to Benjy Bleeglehorn and her dashing sidekick Bravo Kirkwood to save the day! But can Benjy do it alone? This time, Zorlan has trapped Bravo inside the story by appealing to his one weakness: his desire to be awesome. Now Bravo is the Emperor, surrounded by new monster “friends” who promise to make him an awesome coat that only awesome people can see. It’s up to Benjy to show Bravo that there is no coat, that the monsters aren’t his friends, and that’s okay to be who you are, no matter what anyone says!

We were featured in Time Out Kids as part of their “Cheap Theatre for Kids” article for this particular bit of Monsterness. In fact, we had the first read last night, and it went super fantastically.

2. In July, my play “Sharon Is My Name”- a John Hughes-esque adaptation of “The Merchant of Venice”  will be produced at the Northwoods Ramah Theatre in Wisconsin. I was commissioned to write this adaptation by my buddy Annie Levy, and I think it’s ended up being a sufficient blend of my preposterous sensibility and, you know, Shakespeare. The play focuses on one afternoon in detention, when brainy Sharon Rosenberg dares to confront the tyrannical Mr. Morris about the fact that she feels “The Merchant of Venice” is beautiful , despite the fact that he feels it is violently anti-semitic and horrible. The question is- how far will she go to prove her point? How much is this play (or anything, like maybe perhaps a pound of flesh,  maybe?) worth fighting for?

3. And there’s still a giant thing to be announced coming in August- which I am, in fact, tre tre excited about! So keep a look out here. Yes, sir!