LBHS Drama Partners with Playwright

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New York City playwright Jeffrey James Keyes’ work “Ghost Stories” serves as the script for a high school play reading.
New York City playwright Jeffrey James Keyes’ work “Ghost Stories” serves as the script for a high school play reading.

The high school drama department will feature their Theatre II students in a unique collaboration with a New York City playwright and screenwriter on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 8 and 9, in a reading of “Ghost Stories” at 7:30 p.m. Performances will be held in the Greene Room (Room 55) at 625 Park Ave. Admission is free and both performances will be followed by a reception.

Students will be the first to read the latest version of “Ghost Stories,” a collection of short plays by Jeffrey James Keyes. He will spend four days in residence with the students, working alongside LBHS drama teacher and director Alexis Karol, a former classmate at Fordham University.

“I feel that a brush with the supernatural is an instance in which people can get onto the same page,” said Keyes. “I’m interested in capturing these moments: exploring and dramatizing them.”

“Ghost Stories” is an evolving collection of short plays by Keyes. Various incarnations of these plays have been developed and workshopped at the Dramatists Guild in New York City and the Rogue Machine Theatre in Los Angeles. This is the first time this arrangement of the plays will be presented.

One of the short plays, “Imaginary Friends,” received an inaugural performance in the Samuel French OOB Festival in the Lion Theatre in New York City. It was additionally performed with the Prologue Theatre’s Landmark Festival. “Stanley Hotel” was produced at 59E59 and additionally presented in the Columbia University New Plays Now Festival at Second Stage Theater.

Keyes’ short film “181” was recently screened in New York and Miami and his next short, “Biltmore,” is currently in post-production. His plays have been developed or featured at SoHo Playhouse, the Samuel French Festival, the Old Vic in London, 59E59, the Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Rogue Machine Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Prologue Theatre in Chicago.

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