“Daniel John Kelley and Emily Plumb’s fine play The Conveniences of Modern Living should be a must-see on your FringeNYC list this year…Great writing and an imaginative concept that takes a fun and unexpected route to explore the depths of love and grief. The Conveniences of Modern Living is also a good example of what’s great about FringeNYC—shows that are original and take an experimental step away from the mainstream in a fun, hip, and totally downtown way.”

-Heather Lee Rogers, Nytheatre.com, http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/review_fnyc.php?t=conv10689

“Here’s the standard that I expect to see at the Fringe: passionate theater makers giving committed performances in plays that shine brightly from the page onto the stage. Conveniences of Modern Living is exactly the kind of play that I’m looking forward to…So here’s what needs to happen: Producers need to go see this show and promptly throw money at the playwright. I expect to see this play getting an 8 week run at an off-broadway house within the next year.”

-Christophe Dierckson, New York Theatre Review, http://newyorktheatrereview.blogspot.com/2010/08/todays-fringe-nyc-recommendations.html

It’s honestly strange to think of him as gone, because there was something so essentially LIVING about Paul. When I first met him- the first semester of my freshman year at Sarah Lawrence- he was this bleeched blond haired sixty year old man with a fanny pack and a too-tight-of-t-shirt who- within the first thirty minutes of class- had leapt out of his chair and started bellowing about how undeniably hot Lady Macbeth was. He taught Shakespeare, but to him there was nothing sacred or sacrosanct about it. It was about people- beautiful, intelligent, hilarious, dirty, stupid, sexual people- people who LIVED, and were LIVING. He did everything he could to bring the outside world into the classroom and show us how people in the world were still behaving in the same ways as the people in these 400 year old plays. Honestly, sometimes it was a bit of a stretch, but there was no denying his passionate conviction, his energy, enthusiasm and the love he had for the work and for his students. Perhaps it’s cliche to talk about the teacher who made Shakespeare “come alive” for you- and perhaps everyone who fancies themselves an actor at some point has had one- but Paul was mine, and it meant a lot to me. The joy with which he approached his work and his life is something I am very grateful to have been a part of, and something I continue to carry with me.

That said, I don’t think Paul would want me to be sitting here and idealizing him. That’s really not what he was about. Like the characters he taught, acted and loved, Paul was a man- a beautiful, intelligent, hilarious, dirty, stupid, and sexual man. And one that will be missed.

]]> http://danieljohnkelley.com/2010/08/15/rip-paul-rudd/feed/ http://danieljohnkelley.com/2010/08/12/jessica-love-in-the-conveniences-of-modern-living-in-the-ny-fringe/ http://danieljohnkelley.com/2010/08/12/jessica-love-in-the-conveniences-of-modern-living-in-the-ny-fringe/#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:10:29 +0000 Daniel John Kelley http://danieljohnkelley.com/?p=702 The third in our series of videos is Jessica Love, who is playing The Dryer:

I originally saw Jessica many many moons ago when she played the lead in the Julliard workshop of Adam Symkowitz’s play Incendiary. I thought she was fantastic and thought “Wouldn’t it be awesome if she was in a play of mine?” And lo and behold, she turns out to be a undergrad buddy of the director/co-playwright of “The Conveniences of Modern Living”- Emily Plumb. Emily asked her to be in it, and she said “Why yes!” and off we went.

Next up, Jessica will be in the Atlantic Theatre Company’s production of Lucy Thurber’s new play Bottom of the World. So yeah, she’s pretty fancy, and we’re lucky to have her aboard to the play The Dryer.

“The Conveniences of Modern Living” opens Tuesday, August 17 @ 6:30PM as part of the NY International Fringe Festival- at the Player’s Theatre, 115 MacDougal St. between. West 3rd and Minetta Lane

For tickets, visit our website and just click the date you’d like to go: http://conveniencesofmodernliving.weebly.com/

David Ian Lee was actually in two of my favorite shows in NYC last year- Universal Robots and Infectious Opportunity, so I kind of nerded out when he was able to come aboard this show. And this, despite the fact that he only recently become the father of a tiny child!

“The Conveniences of Modern Living” opens Tuesday, August 17 @ 6:30PM as part of the NY International Fringe Festival- at the Player’s Theatre, 115 MacDougal St. between. West 3rd and Minetta Lane

For tickets, visit our website and just click the date you’d like to go: http://conveniencesofmodernliving.weebly.com/

After four years, two workshops, so many drafts its not even funny- “The Conveniences of Modern Living” is opening in the NY International Fringe Festival next Tuesday. We had our tech rehearsal Sunday (you only get one), and things are looking like they’re really coming together.

To give you a feel for some of the folks in the show, I’ve created little Youtube videos of each of the cast members, talking a little about the show and their characters. I’ll be posting them here in the week leading up to the show.

Here’s the first- the excellent Rory Sheridan as Harold Hutchinson:

Now if that’s convinced you, you can go and buy your tickets here. Just click on the date you want to come!

Last, week my adaptation- “Sharon is My Name”- went up!:

Take that, Pacino!

*Al Pacino ominously enters my blog entry*

Eh heh…Hey Al! Long time no see! Congrats on the move to Broadway! I tried to see you in the Park, but you know…*Al Pacino slugs me in the jaw in my blog entry. Al Pacino leaves my blog entry*

Ouch. Ahem.

From all accounts, it went exceedingly well. Many thanks to Annie and the cast!

Here are what some folks have to say that were there:

http://www.nathan-miller.com/my-name-is-sharon/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-name-is-sharon

http://ramahwisconsin.typepad.com/ramahwisconsin/2010/07/northwoods-ramah-theatre-company.html

My NY Fringe show, “The Conveniences of Modern Living”, was very kindly featured earlier this week in the Brooklyn section of the NY Daily News:

You can go ahead and read the whole article here.

It started with, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if a man fell in love with a dryer?’ But when I thought about it, it wasn’t funny. It was terribly, terribly sad,” said Kelley, 25, who grew up in Cobble Hill and lives in Crown Heights with co-writer and director Emily Plumb, 28.

The article also focuses on two other Brooklyn based Fringe shows this summer-  Feed the Monster, and In The Schoolyard. I’m looking forward to checking them out as well!