Announcing My Theatrical Debut (...for Video Design) in "The Last Jews: An Apocalyptic Comedy" at Boston's Playwrights' Theatre

I'm pleased to be working in Boston theater at the moment! And as I'm not an actor, I'm especially pleased to be able to stay behind the camera. Camera? Theater? What, you ask?

Playwright Larry Jay Tish has a new play up and running for one more weekend at the Playwrights' Theatre at BU in Boston. "The Last Jews: An Apocalyptic Comedy" is a funny farce that is rooted in the legacy of of one of history's darkest chapters. It also may offend Canadians.

A Boston Globe article gives some insight into Larry and the concept of the play:

Larry Jay Tish, "tackles humanity at its most inhumane with “The Last Jews: An Apocalyptic Comedy.” It’s set in a North Dakota bunker after a Canadian-led genocide has wiped out all but two Jews, Gertrude and Morty, who hadn’t spoken to each other since their bitter divorce two decades before."

Set in the near future, the play called for some video elements -- characters "skyping" with each other, security camera footage, a fake newscast -- to be presented to the audience via a communication screen inside the Sierra Club bunker where most of the play takes place.

I was pleased to work with Larry and Director Margaret Ann Brady and some talented actors to get these scenes recorded, edited and delivered for playback during the live shows. In previews, I was happy to see that the video played seamlessly and was non-distracting, which is really the point, to serve the play in telling the story at hand.

The video elements even received a mention in a review on Boston Arts Review (where it wasn't called out for ruining everything): "...and Brad Kelly’s video design for the television news broadcasts is an effective and awfully clever comic coup. Mazel Tov."

The play runs through May 11th and is funny and hopeful and gets you thinking about the absurdity of hatred, even as you're laughing.


See you in the theater!