DANIEL JOHN KELLEY

“The Conveniences of Modern Living” opened last Tuesday- and we’ve gotten some really great reviews out of it. Below is a little sampling of them. We’ve done 3 of our 4 shows, with the final show coming up this Saturday at Noon. I can’t believe it’s all about to be over- but it is! It’s been such a great experience, and I’m so grateful to everyone who’s made it possible, and who came out. More soon, but for now…

“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

Last Thursday, I found out my first college Shakespeare teacher, Paul Rudd, passed away. I hadn’t spoken to him in a number of years- the last interaction I had with him was corresponding about a show of mine he couldn’t come to. His response, though brief, was fairly indicative of how I will remember him: He wrote about his family, and a story he heard from someone somewhere and maybe how there was a play in it, he wrote about politics and how the world was preposterous, and he wrote about which play he was working on, and how he was attacking it this time. “Am tackling HAMLET at NSD with Classics students next year…like we did at SLC, but wilder, more crazy Beckettesque, and other attacks.” Then he sent me $100 to make sure my play happened, even though I hadn’t asked for it.

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.

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/

As promised, here’s the second in the series of cast interviews for “The Conveniences of Modern Living” in the NY Fringe:

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/

It’s finally here.

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!

In late November last year, my buddy Annie Levy commissioned me to develop an adaptation of “The Merchant of Venice” for a Jewish camp she works with in the woods of Wisconsin.

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

Looks like being from Brooklyn counts for something in ink these days.

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!  

The big news for August (that I promised in May, ha ha), is that my play “The Conveniences of Modern Living” is going up in the Fringe.

This is a play I’ve been working on for a very, very long time (about four year now, incredibly)- and in the final version of the play, the director (Emily Plumb) actually collaborated very significantly on its content, to the point that it’s no longer really my play- it’s our play. And the fact that said director/writer/collaborator also happens to my real-life girlfriend makes this fact all the more special. Honestly, I didn’t know if we could do this and make it work- personally aand professionally- but so far, it’s been really fantastic.The perspective she’s brought to these characters and this world, and the clarity we’ve managed to achieve together has made this play into something I feel is very special- and that celebrates a lot of things I think are worth celebrating: family, idealism, love. But mostly, mostly it celebrates the power of people to experience horrible things and (after great difficulty and struggle) emerge the stronger from them. That’s something I’m proud to put into the world. And this August, that’s what I’ma gonna do!

Oh, and it’s funny. Darkly funny. Yeah. I mean, who do you think you are dealing with?

THE CONVENIENCES OF MODERN LIVING

A new play by Daniel John Kelley & Emily Plumb

Coming this August to the Player’s Theatre as part of the New York International Fringe Festival.

Click here for more info on the show

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!

This just in: My dreams of coming in third is an internet contest have been realized.

I’m the third place winner in The Omniscient Mussel’s #operaplot twitter contest, where you summarize plots of great operas in 140 characters, and pack in as much snark as humanly possible.

Here’s my winning entry, a synopsis of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin:

So I wrote this guy this EPIC love letter & he’s like “No thanks”, but now I’m married & rich & he’s all “OMG I LURV U!!” WTF?

Yep. My love of 19th century romantic opera and my mastery of 21st century LOLspeak have won me a 33 disc set of Wagner. The coolest part is that the winners were chosen by Jonas Kaufmann who is, in my opinion, the leading dramatic tenor singing today.

Oh, and I also won some side prizes from both Opera San Jose and the English National Opera for my #operaplot summary of La Boheme:

Of all the artist lofts in all the world, that consumptive dame had to light her candle in mine. Well, we’ll always have Paris.

Yup. I went there. Casablanca.

So yeah. Hurray! Prizes! Onwards! More news soon…