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west farms

full play video

  Gritty and worn-down, the neighborhood had little to offer the adults who lived there, and even less to a child. But children, especially those who grow up in the Bronx, are resilient, and survive harsh times through humor and a tough skin.

  • My favorite piece was Joseph Reed Hayes' gentle West Farms. Willy grew up poor and neglected, and transferred his affections to his older brother Danny. Danny aimed for fame in the ring, but wasn't good enough, and after a round of cheap booze ended up flying through the imaginary window of a strip club. The story is well wrought, and Kurizsky's presentation warms with support from the hard punching Danny and the creepy trainer Rickets. Dreams fade, but we all find a time and place to live, even if we change busses occasionally." - Ink19.com
    • Telly Award Winner, Independent video presentation
    Orange TV broadcast 2008
    Eric Kuritzky
    David Lugo
    "Summer Shorts X", Playwrights' Roundtable, Valencia College Black Box Theatre Orlando 2007
    Eric Kuritzky
    David Lugo
    Charles R. Dent, director
  • "Launch 2006", Playwrights Round Table, Theatre Downtown, Orlando 2006
    Eric Kuritzky
    John Hill
    Derek Ormond
    Ashland Thomas, director
  • Finalist, "Notes From the Underground" one-act festival, NYC 2006
    Reading, The Jazz Gallery, NYC 2003
    Reading, Atlantic Center for the Arts 2000

DELIVERANCE

full play VIDEO

Versions available for live stage or online production.
It is a city in the time of social isolation, and life is different now that food arrives at your door. A short play in three acts exploring the stresses of the new reality, and how some of us are better equipped than others to deal with it.

tell it to the bird

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Checking into a swank hotel, Mr. Thompson finds more than your typical amenities, including individual climate control, on-site fitness center, Internet access ... and Ethel, the Pest Elimination Companion.

  • The Beast Festival Triangle Theatre NYC 2004
    Doug Barron
    Dana Bate
    Kaci Gober
    Nancy Rogers, director

johnny mystery

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The ghost in the closet, the Tooth Fairy, even the bite of the bed bugs, these are real things for Johnny Mystery, Public School Private Eye ... and for his friends, he'll solve anything. Johnny is a bright ten-year-old, who solves mysteries only a kid can understand. His “office” is the monkey bars at the school playground, his best friend is Bradbury, the boy who would rather take interpretive dance and fencing lessons than play basketball, and his favorite pastime is memorizing lines from old detective movies.

a god in aspect

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Jeremy Gilbert, minor government functionary at the Department of the Interior, meets the embodiment of his darkest dreams when a Lovecraftian Elder God walks into his office and demands to be classified an Endangered Species. Who is the more frightening?

  • "Gods, Rabbits & Automobiles", The Charade Drama Group Bristol, UK 2004
    Nic Coward
    Laetitia Hannan
    Kevin Restall
    Sian Taylor
    Sian Taylor & Laetitia Hannan, directors
  • "Cthulu and the Coeds", Twilight Tales 2003

CONTACT ME

freelance writer

As a writer on assignment, I've traveled to Italy, Scotland, England, New Orleans, California and New York City, with a specialty on all things Orlando. Whether it's a story about Arts & Crafts houses in Florida or new styles in computers, a Mounted Police squad or alien abduction insurance, I've written it. Environmental issues, music, movie and theater reviews and in-depth conversations with legends in jazz. Interviews and personality profiles are my specialty.

playwright

My plays take place on buses and in bars, in hotel rooms and government offices, farmhouse kitchens and jazz stages. 58 productions and readings of my plays from coast to coast and in three countries since 2000; creator of House Theater Project and the year-long 13in13 series of shows. "Best local playwright: Joseph Hayes" - Orlando Sentinel

food writer

Florida Magazine Association Award winning food writer and Orlando restaurant critic. James Beard Foundation judge, knowledgable champion of world cuisine and avid advocate of undiscovered chefs. I can write about the front of the house of a restaurant as well as the kitchen with equal expertise. Founding member, goFLA/SunshinePlate Central Florida.

jazz producer

Producer of the Jazz On Edge series, spotlighting new and original jazz from Central Florida since 2008, showcasing the best that Central Florida has to offer in jazz to appreciative audiences, giving creative hometown and nationally-known musicians a place to perform their own music, without boundaries, in person and online. Founder Word Play series, former Chair of Alternative Programming, Timucua Arts Foundation.