The Playwrights Database
ERNEST KEARNEY
(1963 - )Nationality: USA
email: Click here to contact Website: n/a
Literary Agent: n/a
ernest Kearney is an internationally produced playwright with over thirty works to his name. He is the recipient of two Los Angeles Dramalogue awards, was named as one of the best emerging playwrights by the Midwest Playwrights Conference, and was accorded east Germany's Kunstler Preis for which Rainer Fassbinder had nominated him. a five time finalist\semi- finalist in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition, his most recent work "the Salt Prince," was honored in both the Nathan Miller History Play Writing Contest and James Reynold's Fremont Center Theater 2007 play competition. a native of Los Angeles he's worked in every imaginable aspect of the film industry from tour guide to screenwriter but remains passionately committed to the Theatre.
Buy Plays with Doollee
Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.AbeBooks.co.uk AbeBooks.com Stageplays.com amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template
below is a list of Ernest Kearney's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Among the Vipers Little Boy Who Loved Monsters Meat Market Urned HappinessAmong the Vipers
Synopsis:
For artie and this wife, Nellie, struggling desperately to survive in a hand to mouth existence, measuring their lives in "minimum wage" hours, there seems no escape from poverty. Until artie is approached by a fast talking promoter who promises him fame and riches if he agrees to participate in the greatest media stunt of all time: to be enclosed for three day and nights in a glass cell among thirteen of the world's most poisonous snakes! Based on actual events!
Notes:
Vipers was A semi-finalist with the Julie Harris Playwrights Competition As well As the Carnegie-Mellon Showcase. It was produced by the Odyssey theatre ensemble in La in 1991. In reviewing that production the La Times wrote: "L.a. Playwright ernest Kearney writes with A unique voice that's part demonic And part phantasmagoric." the La Weekly wrote, "among the Vipers plays like A simple, engaging story, not A profound spiritual journey, which makes it infinitely more enjoyable As theatre And more powerful As A social statement -" the Viper has recently undergone A re-writing that frames the play's event As A reality show.
1st Produced:
New Playwrights theater 1986
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: 2 Female: 1 Other: a viper chorus for 3-6 performers
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageLittle Boy Who Loved Monsters
Synopsis:
a bizarre and grotesque tragedy results in police and reporters descending onto the prestigious Raleigh mansion. While the press has been kept at bay, the authorities are demanding answers as to why a terrified caller summoned the police that night and when the matriarch of the family ran screaming from the house whose blood was it she was drenched in? It has fallen to a noted child psychologist to uncover what secret the Raleigh household is hiding. after interviewing the Servant the psychologist realizes that somewhere in the dark fantasy which grips the young son lies not only the key to that veiled secret, but also the answer to who - or what - slaughtered and devoured the family's Pekingese. . .If you seek to make a monster you must begin with a child.
Notes:
This is An odd little piece. But it is Also Among my most successful And most Accomplished works. It is An Amazing challenge for Any group of Actors And An unforgettable evening for Any Audience. 'the Little Boy Who Loved has been done both purely in the Abstract And naturalistically (I prefer the former.). Regarding the characters, the Actor playing the Little Boy should look youngish, but the 'boy' in question is more the child he was rather than the child he is, so the Actor can be in his early twenties; the Little Boy must though be An Adept physical Actor, As the role is physically quite demanding. (He turns into An T. Rex At the end And devours the doctor.) the Doctor should be male, mature, with A commanding presence, but does not need to be. the Housekeeper, originally written for A black woman, in one recent production was played As the Man Servant by A very large And menacing Actor to great effect (I think I preferred the role As such). With the exception of the Little Boy, All roles Are flexible. At the premiere, the L. A Times praised 'the Little Boy Who Loved Monsters' As 'inordinately creative writing. Kearney exercises control, momentum, And fashions leaps of verbal imagination. . . . A unique voice that's part demonic And part phantasmagoric." It was Also Accorded east Germany's Kunstler Preis for which it was nominated by Rainer Fassbinder
1st Produced:
McCadden Place Theater, Los Angeles, California 1988
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:
Surreal
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: 1f can be 1m
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageMeat Market
Synopsis:
the dating game and pick-ups
Notes:
Music by Brian Benison
1st Produced:
Moving Arts, Los Angeles 1995
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:
-
Top of PageUrned Happiness
Synopsis:
Mother Hapshaw has gone to her rewards - finally! To describe her as a "difficult" person would be like calling crucifixion "Inconvenient." But now her two daughters, Kim and Maggie, are left to decide what to do with her ashes. a task not made any easier by the appearance of Kim's estranged husband Lloyd who insists that his hiring of a clown and a polka band really did liven up the funeral - well except for Mother Hapshaw. Poor Kim first she lost her mother now she's losing her mind. C'mon, one cremated cadaver, a murdered clown, and a confused polka band - is that a recipe for a swell time or what?
Notes:
Urned Happiness is A major crowd pleaser. It received A Dramalogue Award for best comedy writing, the ADa Award for best ensemble comedy, And the first prize for Best comedy in the Los Angeles' Voices From the edge New Play Series.
1st Produced:
Theatre Unlimited, Los Angeles, Ca 1997
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:
Very Grave Comedy
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of Page