Artist Statement
"The reason you create is because there's a story crawling to get out of you." - Stephen Karam
I grew up in a family of painters, of visual artists, and our primary source of fun was sketching. We’d sketch on Saturdays, holidays, days off. We’d sketch on vacation, during heat waves, and in church. While my school friends were at the movies or mall, I was having a picnic in the snow in a graveyard doing what? Sketching. This instilled in me a need to notice and document. I find I’m doing the same with my scripts. I want us to notice. I want us to witness and bear witness to hidden human experience. I’m making markers for lives—tombstones on unmarked graves. I want us to see how vulnerable we all are, how we must do a better job of protecting each other, and how damned the downward spiral can be. I write about people—ordinary people—in all their twisted, aggressive, hopeless, hopeful, humorous, and sad glory. Sad glory is something to notice.
Cockfight
Drama/3 M, 2 W/One Act/90 minutes
In the Delaware Bay area of Southern New Jersey, inhabitants make ends meet by stitching together part-time, and low-paying jobs. When Randy acquires chickens to raise for profit, instigator Storm advises Randy to start an illegal cockfighting ring. Randy enlists the help of loyal friend Buster and borrows money from his sister Roberta. Even ex-girlfriend Gert is coerced by Storm to take part. Greed and desperation rise up, relationships tangle, and Randy and his ring are thrown into a downward spiral.
OUTSIDE JOB
Drama/3 W, 2 M/One Act/90 minutes
In a county where there seems to be no escape and in a community where men refuse to take responsibility for themselves and their families, mother Alice has the double burden of surviving while keeping her family intact. Personal safety and happiness are unattainable luxuries. But daughter Nicole is too foolish to realize this and cannot be resigned to mere survival. She attempts a new identity as someone who is happy and loved only to have her dreams dismantled by the cynicism of her sister Tabitha and the actions of their father Jerry.
The Essentials
Dramedy/2 W, 2 M/One Act/90 minutes
With her grieving husband Peter consumed by Sasquatch hunting, homemaker Meredith finds her voice and purpose in launching an online essential oils business. Her mother, Joyce, sees danger in this new-found independence, Peter is disturbed by Meredith’s unique way of coping, and Milton, Meredith's father, is indifferent and only wants peace from his reading chair. Ultimately, the oils overtake, and both Peter and Meredith choose their own paths.
BLOW-OUT
Drama/3 W, 2 M/One Act/90 minutes
The Whitakers share their cramped life in southern New Jersey. As Rick prepares for his annual hunting trip in Alaska, his wife Sheila keeps quiet about family secrets until the unforgivable happens. Daughter Missy supports the family on convenience store paychecks, and younger sister Barbara dreams of adulting with live-in boyfriend Jimmy. But all comes to a halt when narcissism breeds disaster. It’s the hopeless situation of living among self-absorbed suburbanites where boundaries are murky, and cruelty is family fun.
RAINDROP CLEAN
Drama/1 W, 1 M/One Act/90 minutes
ShayAnn is a well-meaning young mom with few skills who’s trying to make a better life in her new door-to-door sales role for the pyramid scheme Raindrop Clean. With each failed home visit, her confidence begins to wither but she clings to the company motto: Family, Fresh, and Free. Saddled with a toddler, a dying grandmother, and a boyfriend with no moral compass, the only choice is to make this gig work. When her boyfriend hatches a plan to speed things up by robbing her customer’s homes, things take a deadly turn, and her dreams seem impossibly far away.
Bio
Kelsey Austin is a writer and editor based in Southern New Jersey. In addition to micro and flash fiction, she has written several full-length plays including RAINDROP CLEAN, COCKFIGHT, and BLOW-OUT. As an Arts and Humanities instructor at Rowan College of South Jersey, Kelsey taught a number of literature, theatre, and speech courses. She also has experience in acting, directing, choreography, scenic design and painting, and stage managing. Kelsey is a graduate of Rowan University with a bachelor's degree in Theatre. She studied at Essex University in Colchester, England where she earned a master's degree with merit in Literature: Theatre and Drama. While at Essex, Kelsey studied playwriting under Jonathan Lichtenstein. She wrote several plays with Joe Udall for the San Diego Fringe Festival and dinner theatre. Kelsey is a Chicago Dramatists Network Playwright, a founding member of Telling Humans Playwrights Studio, and a member of The Dramatists Guild of America. She received a residency from Emilio Williams at the Blue Parrot, Chicago.