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Joseph Reed Hayes

JOSEPH REED HAYES  

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Playwright, freelance writer, photographer, website designer, jazz festival producer. Critics have called the work of Joseph Reed Hayes "lyrical", "touching", "beautiful" and "a welcome oasis of cultural smarts". Noted composer and writer David amram called him "a true dramatist," and said, "His work and all the events he creates are significant nationally and internationally."

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below is a list of Joseph Reed Hayes's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

 God In Aspect, A         If I Had My Way         Little Crazy, A         Solos         Tell It To The Bird         West Farms

God In Aspect, A

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

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Charade Drama Group, Bristol, England    2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Published in short story form in "Cthulhu and the Co-Eds", 11th Hour Productions 2001   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
comedy One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  1

Further Reference:
-

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If I Had My Way

Synopsis:
Florida, 1945. a young woman, educated in the North, reluctantly returns to her childhood home to care for her ailing mother. Finding herself in the same citrus farm kitchen that her mother toiled in all her life, she resents every aspect of her situation, rejecting friendship and suitors, until her abrasive and bitter attitude is broken by a person she considered invisible; the Italian POW brought to the ranch as replacement help. Using lessons learned in his own mother's kitchen, he reminds her of the beauty of food, and teaches her to value things within her grasp as the world outside grows uglier. and then the citrus groves bloom, and during one magical, perfume-filled night, every relationship in the house changes. Based on a forgotten part of Central Florida history and influenced by the Blues, If I Had My Way looks at relationships formed by the rational and irrational tides of war, the deep-seated racial tension of the Old South, the loneliness of young souls isolated by culture and time, and hope following darkness like a dream amid the scent of orange blossoms.

Notes:
Winner, United Arts of Central Florida Professional Development Grant 2009; Recipient, Galati Research Grant 2007 (supporting original non-fiction research of Artistic, historical And cultural importance to the history of Orlando And Florida.)

1st Produced:
Garden Theatre, Winter Garden FL    2010

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Little Crazy, A

Synopsis:
a Little Crazy (a bissel meshugah) is a contemporary play about two men - avram, an 84-year-old Polish immigrant, and his great-nephew, Harry and their sometimes turbulent relationship. It renews the idea that one generation can learn from another, and that regardless of the accent, words can change lives. Every family has an Uncle avram - the holder of the secrets, the storyteller, the heart. audiences connect with a Little Crazy on many levels, whether it's the memory of a distant relative or the echo of a half-forgotten story. They laugh (a lot), and they cry, renewed in the idea that one generation can connect with another, and that regardless of the accent, words can change lives.

Notes:
Bill Whitney Senior Players, Portland Oregon 2003; Orlando International Fringe Festival 2002; Finalist American Theatre Co-op Fall 2003 Contest for Original Full-Length Plays; Reading, Eyewitness Theatre, Manchester England 2001

1st Produced:
Orlando International Fringe Festival    2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy/drama, full-length

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Solos

Synopsis:
Solos is about love, deception, the hardships and joys of the jazz existence and the fabulous, always-changing life of the music itself, a dance of timing, in which the rhythms of dialog mimic the rhythms of jazz and the music becomes the third character, reinterpreting the actors' emotional involvements. The "soundtrack", a combination of improvisation and modern compositions by New York trumpeter Brian Groder, is played by a four-piece ensemble live on stage through three movements and a coda. The Jazz Romance of trumpeter Ben "Blue" Miller and Ellie Grace, a woman composer in a man's world. a tale as passionate as the music.

Notes:
a play by Joseph Reed Hayes is A welcome oasis of cultural smarts. His Solos takes As its topic the development of jazz, As revealed by the decades-spanning story of A trumpeter And his wife, who secretly pens his 'original' compositions. - Steve Schneider, Orlando Weekly

1st Produced:
Orlando International Fringe Festival    2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tell It To The Bird

Synopsis:
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.

Notes:
The Beast Festival, NYC 2004

1st Produced:
Triangle Theatre, NY    2004

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Comedy, short

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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West Farms

Synopsis:
a worn man reminisces about an almost mythical drinking establishment from his childhood near the West Farms bus depot in the Bronx. a gritty and worn-down place, 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. Willie and his older brother Danny are the products of a home bereft of affection, of parents who have lost hope, of a father who has lost any interest in his sons or his life. Danny desperately wants out, and his escape route is the boxing ring. Willie worships his older brother, hanging around him as much as he can, surviving in the hope that Danny will win, will prove that life has the possibility of being glorious.

Notes:
2008 Telly Award Bronze Winner; OrangeTV production And broadcast, Orlando FL 2007; Playwrights' Roundtable, Valencia College Black Box Theatre, Orlando FL 2007; Finalist, "Notes From the Underground" one-act festival, NYC 2006; Playwrights' Roundtable, Theatre Downtown, Orlando FL 2006; The Jazz Gallery, NYC 2003; Atlantic Center for the Arts 2000

1st Produced:
Theatre Downtown, Orlando    2006

Organisations:
Playwrights Round Table

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
Recording of stage play: http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePRTFL

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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