THE PLAYS OF
Adrienne Kennedy “With Beckett gone, Adrienne Kennedy is probably the boldest artist now writing for the theater.” – Michael Feingold, The Village Voice, 1995
Funnyhouse of a Negro
Drama/Experimental | 3m, 5f | 40 minutes | World Premiere 1964
A modern classic about the student Sarah, a young black woman living in New York City, and her search for her identity in a very complex, warring, and fractured world. This search is manifested in her many selves: Queen Victoria, the Duchess of Hapsburg, Patrice Lumumba, and Jesus Christ. Performed by colleges worldwide, this landmark play speaks to students trying to find a place in the world. WINNER - 1964 Obie for Distinguished Play
Diary of Lights: New York About 1955
Drama/Play with music | 6m, 4f | 120 Minutes | World Premiere 1978
A series of scenes that depict a group of friends during one evening in New York City in the mid-fifties. Part dramatic literature, part dance, and part musical theatre, Diary of Lights is a window into a part of American culture, expressed through the unique voice of one of America’s most formidable dramatists.
She Talks to Beethoven
Drama/Experimental | 1m, 1f |30 minutes | World Premiere 1989
Set in Ghana, Suzanne waits in her room listening to radio broadcasts about her husband, who has mysteriously disappeared, while she attempts to write about and communicate with composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Her world is infiltrated by snatches of Ghanaian string music, the revolutionary words of Frantz Fanon and strains of Beethoven’s “Fidelio.” Suzanne, recovering from an unspecified illness, hovers in displaced time and space fluctuating between Vienna, Austria in 1803, and Accra, Ghana in 1961.
Ohio State Murders
Drama | 2m, 3f | 75 minutes | World Premiere 1992
Suzanne Alexander, is an African American writer whose life both is and is not like her author’s. When Suzanne enters Ohio State University in 1949, little does she know what the supposed safe haven of academia holds in store. Years later, Suzanne is invited to return to the university to talk about the violence in her writing. A dark mystery unravels. The play is an intriguing, unusual, and chilling look at the destructiveness of racism in the U.S.
Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles?
Drama/Experimental | 1m, 1f |60 minutes | World Premiere 2008
co-written with A DAM P. KENNEDY
Adrienne Kennedy relates her star-studded experience of moving to London and working on The Lennon Play: In His Own Write. Her absolute astonishment at being thrust in among the rich and famous of the theatre and film world is refreshing and charming. A great story, told in an interview-style conversation between a mother and son.
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