Frankie Moon’s Long Gone (A Dark Comedy)
Workshopped through the Playwright Development Program in Miami, FL. Read as a part of Naked Angels 1st Monday Reading Series, Chicago chapter. Workshopped through the Playwrights Center, Minneapolis.
A comedy about cancer. Frank has decided to end chemo treatments, choosing instead to chain smoke his way to the bitter end. His son, Steve, has recently gone into a tailspin after his ex-boyfriend left him, and returning home to care for Frank has NOT HELPED: the two have been at each other’s throats since the moment Steve arrived. In an attempt to get Frank to go back on chemo and keep fighting, Steve hires Marty--a born again hospice nurse, with a song in his heart. The deal is this: if Frank goes back on treatments, Steve will fire Marty. If not...Marty stays...until the bitter, bitter end. A vicious comedy about loss, death, and a father and son trying to meet somewhere in the middle.
Work shopped through the Playwright's Development Program (Miami, FL). Workshopped through Naked Angels Theater Company, Chicago chapter. Read as a part of Naked Angels 1st Monday Reading Series. Workshopped at the Playwrights Center.
Devil Lay Me Down
Photo: Brianna Digioia
Dalton Gray (Julian); Mara Gannon (Ro) Off-Broadway world premiere Theater for the New City (NYC)
Julian Carthy returns from prison to his father’s trailer on the Texas-Mexico border, hell-bent on finding his estranged daughter. Instead, he finds his father Marcus, living with Ro—his much younger live-in girlfriend. And when a spark of interest lights between Julian and Ro, old tensions seethe between father and son, drawing Julian’s brutal past to the surface.
““Like Sam Shepard and Eugene O’Neill before him, Kessler follows the legacy of a long line of dramatists who remind us we can never really go home; we can never escape the ghosts of a shattered world.””
““Kessler seduces us with a quiet intensity. His language is both lyrical and intricate, capturing the stories of the wretched. [...] Kessler’s special gift lies in creating monsters that are sympathetic and crafting one hell of a story.””
King's River
Photo: Brianna Digioia
Andrew Isaac Rosenberg; Gwynneth Rose Benson Off-Broadway world premiere Medicine Show Theatre (NYC)
Spanning several decades in the same small town, King's River tells the intertwining stories of several families, as they yearn and search for something greater than what lies in their little town. Co-authored by Andrew Rosenberg, and produced at Medicine Show Theatre in NYC.
““The nostalgia in Wheeler’s eyes as he delivers the line “We danced… oh lord, did we dance” is hard to ignore. It’s a simple line delivered so honestly and straightforwardly, it makes you think about your own past relationships and how on Earth they could have gone wrong.””
Mountain Kings
Workshopped at The Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis, under the direction of Isabel Nelson
Newly released from Marion Penitentiary, Colton McCullough returns to the only home he’s ever known: a small pocket of land, deep in the rural Appalachian hills. He’s greeted there by Lonnie and Malcolm Connmaragh, a father-and-son pair, who reign over their forested kingdom like a pair of Gods. But when a spark of interest lights between Colton and Malcolm, loyalties are tested, as Colton and Lonnie vie for control of the land. A dark retelling of Norse mythology set in rural Appalachia, Mountain Kings is the story of one man’s return home to take back what is rightfully his.
Work shopped through the Playwright's Development Program (Miami, FL). Workshopped at the Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis.
The B-Cam/Macbeth
Photograph: Theo Macabeo
Charlie Sandlan (Macbeth), Danielle Liccardo (Lady Macbeth), Theo Macabeo (Man)
Off-Broadway world premiere Flamboyan Theatre (NYC)
A modern re-imagining of Macbeth, The B-Cam is a deconstruction of Shakespeare's most savage play. Interweaving modern storylines alongside the original text, it explores the themes tale of ambition, murder, and revenge. Written alongside Don Nigrow, and the Inertia Ensemble, The B-Cam premiered Off-Broadway at the Flamboyan Theatre in NYC.