I Keep Leaving Parties Early
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Amelia
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SYNOPSIS
How much of ourselves will we sacrifice in order to find connection? Three women at different stages in life discuss dissatisfaction, insecurity and love.
PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO
Amelia Kennedy is a British-American playwright based in Brooklyn, NY. Born and raised in London, she received her BFA from California Institute of the Arts. Her first play, Nothing Good Happens After 3am, premiered at the California Institute of the Arts’ New Works Festival. Following that, Amelia’s writing was seen in Performing History, a selection of original one-person pieces curated by Roger Guenveur Smith. Her second play, Ask For Bukowski At The Counter, was workshopped in New York. I Keep Leaving Parties Early has been developed and presented at The Estrogenius Short Play Festival and The Tank. Amelia’s full-length play Why Must We Pray Screaming? was presented at the Dramatists Guild Foundation and further progressed as a part of Re/Venue at the Bechdel Project. Amelia’s most recent works, Rough Poetry and A Second Coming, are currently undergoing preparations for theatrical development.
A BIT ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
When did you start writing plays? If you had a moment where you realized you wanted to write, what was it?
I truly think I have always been a writer. I tried really hard to be an actor for a long time – I even have a degree in performance – but I have always returned to the desire to create my own narrative worlds. This grew prominently during year I spent interning for The Bushwick Starr at age 18 where I was able to meet and work with so many powerhouse, multi-hyphenated creatives who wrote, performed and produced their own work. I found myself amazed and inspired at all that theatre can be and all one can do within the theatrical community. During my first year of drama school, I wrote a play set in a dorm room at a West Coast art school entitled Nothing Good Happens After 3am. Upon graduating, I moved back to New York and began to work as a playwright – my full-length plays Ask For Bukowski At The Counter and Why Must We Pray Screaming? have received presentations over the past few years. It is absolutely thrilling to be a part of the theatre community in New York and beyond. The collaborators I have met throughout my career constantly inspire me and always remind me why I make theatre.
How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?
I Keep Leaving Parties Early came from a desire to create a story that centered around women, intimacy and the overwhelming feeling of loneliness we universally experience in our modern world that is so connected yet also so painfully disconnected. For a long time prior to writing this piece, I had also considered the concept of sacrifice and the question: how much of ourselves will we sacrifice in order to find that connection we all desperately long for? The play began as an experiment to see if I could write a shorter form piece that still examined these themes and brought them together in a smaller amount of time and words. I wrote it in two sittings at a coffee shop in Park Slope and shortly afterwards invited a group of friends over to my apartment to hear it be read out loud. Since then, the play has gone on to be developed at EstroGenius’ Short Play Festival as well as The Tank. My curiosity surrounding the subjects that formed the play have only grown and have further affected my other work as I continue to examine the female experience and what it means to “come of age” as a woman.
What are five words that describe who you are as a playwright?
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- Intimate
- Curious
- Poetic
- Intellectual
- Observant
What/who are some of the major influences on your writing?
Patti Smith’s poetic narratives and lyrics, characters and stories from Greek mythology, the poetry of WB Yeats, Sylvia Plath and Pablo Neruda, overheard conversations on the subway and New York City – which I’ve always seen as its own character.
What’s one fact someone would never guess about you?
I have a cat called Avocat. It means avocado in French and also has the word cat in it; I thought it was a funny play on words.
What are some of your favorite plays?
That list is ever growing and evolving! But here is a selection that I tend to return to when I need to be reminded why I make theatre: Angels in America by Tony Kushner, Sanctuary City by Martyna Majok, The Flick by Annie Baker, Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, Othello by William Shakespeare, Appropriate by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman and Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell.
Any new projects you’re working on or shameless plugs?
I completed two full-length plays this past year! Rough Poetry and A Second Coming. Both pieces are intimate dramas that I cannot wait to develop further.
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