Peter Kennedy

Peter Kennedy

Peter is a New England based playwright and teacher. His full length dark comedy, Family Game Night, was produced as a staged reading starring Kathleen Turner to benefit the Provincetown, MA Theater Foundation in 2021. Family Game Night was also produced in 2020 as an online reading for The New Works Virtual Festival, a Broadway all-star benefit for the Actors' Fund. The cast included Tony nominees...
Peter is a New England based playwright and teacher. His full length dark comedy, Family Game Night, was produced as a staged reading starring Kathleen Turner to benefit the Provincetown, MA Theater Foundation in 2021. Family Game Night was also produced in 2020 as an online reading for The New Works Virtual Festival, a Broadway all-star benefit for the Actors' Fund. The cast included Tony nominees Carmen Cusack, Richard Kind, and Liz Larsen.

Peter's plays have received staged readings or productions as part of national festivals produced by The Secret Theatre and T. Schreiber Theatre in New York City (Off Off Broadway), City Theatre of Miami, Little Fish Theatre of Los Angeles, The Boston Theatre Marathon, The University of Houston, Theatre InspiraTO in Toronto, CA, and Salem Theatre Company of MA. Peter was also selected as a semifinalist for Eugene O'Neill Theater's National Playwriting Conference and Barrington Stage's Burman New Play Award. Peter was also a finalist for Bloomington Playwrights Project's Reva Shiner Comedy Award and The Actors Theatre of Lousiville's Heideman Award.

Plays

  • Haunted Houses by Peter Kennedy
    Cast: 
    5
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: ghosts, poltergeist + 3 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, horror, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: ghosts, poltergeist, haunted, family, trauma
    Do you believe in ghosts? It's 1978, and New Yorker reporter Zachary Noel is investigating reports of paranormal activity at The Sunflower, a small inn owned by the Crane family in the heart of the historic "burned-over district" of upstate New York. Madame Irene, a psychic with ties to the nearby Spiritualist community of Lily Dale, is convinced that a poltergeist has attached itself to...
    Do you believe in ghosts? It's 1978, and New Yorker reporter Zachary Noel is investigating reports of paranormal activity at The Sunflower, a small inn owned by the Crane family in the heart of the historic "burned-over district" of upstate New York. Madame Irene, a psychic with ties to the nearby Spiritualist community of Lily Dale, is convinced that a poltergeist has attached itself to troubled teenager Rachel Crane. As disturbing incidents mount, the Cranes agree to a seance to put their ghosts behind them--once and for all.
  • Jigsaw Harbor by Peter Kennedy
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 4 more
    ·
    Keyword: island community, ensemble + 8 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, fantasy, horror, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: island community, ensemble, arson, drag, plague doctors, The Tempest, The Masque of the Red Death, ghosts, Charles Bonnet Syndrome, new england
    On a small island off the coast of Massachusetts, the residents of Jigsaw Harbor are familiar with love, loss, and death. Duke DeProspero is going blind and suffering from Charles Bonnet syndrome, a disease that fills his remaining vision with phantoms. His daughter, Mira, and future son-in-law, Cal, struggle with their relationship after Cal returns home from Afghanistan, facially disfigured and broken....
    On a small island off the coast of Massachusetts, the residents of Jigsaw Harbor are familiar with love, loss, and death. Duke DeProspero is going blind and suffering from Charles Bonnet syndrome, a disease that fills his remaining vision with phantoms. His daughter, Mira, and future son-in-law, Cal, struggle with their relationship after Cal returns home from Afghanistan, facially disfigured and broken. Toshi Kobayashi, a Japanese immigrant and Tina Turner impersonator performing aboard the Proud Mary ferry twice daily on weekdays, realizes that her legs aren't what they used to be. And a serial arsonist that is plaguing the community may signal the return of something even more malevolent resurfacing from the island's past.
  • Family Game Night by Peter Kennedy
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    7
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: death, dysfunctional family + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: death, dysfunctional family, living will, terminal illness, right to die, funeral, gay, intergenerational, end of life issues
    On the third Saturday evening of every month, the Morton family gathers together for their traditional board game night at Mom and Dad's house. Tonight, however, will be a little different than the usual round of Monopoly or Clue. Andrea, unbeknownst to her aging parents, husband Jimmy, teenaged daughter Chloe, or snarky brother Max, has brought along a new game designed to get her repressed family...
    On the third Saturday evening of every month, the Morton family gathers together for their traditional board game night at Mom and Dad's house. Tonight, however, will be a little different than the usual round of Monopoly or Clue. Andrea, unbeknownst to her aging parents, husband Jimmy, teenaged daughter Chloe, or snarky brother Max, has brought along a new game designed to get her repressed family talking about issues they'd rather avoid. It's called "We're All Going to Die (Eventually)."

    What starts out as a mildly irritating board game featuring glitter and Grim Reaper hand puppets suddenly turns darker as three generations of the Morton family struggle with articulating wildly different views of their individual end of life (and after) choices. In poignant flash forwards, we begin to see the endgame of how those choices will eventually play out.

    Family Game Night was produced by the Provincetown, MA Theater Foundation as a benefit reading starring Kathleen Turner in 2021.

    It was also included in the 2020 New Works Virtual Festival, a Broadway all-star fundraiser to benefit the Actors' Fund. The online reading cast included Tony nominees Carmen Cusack, Richard Kind, and Liz Larsen.

    In addition, Family Game Night was selected as a semifinalist for the 2020 Eugene O'Neill National Playwriting Conference and as a finalist for Bloomington Playwrights Project's Reva Shiner Comedy Award in 2020. It was produced in 2018 in Northampton, MA as a staged reading for Play by Play: A Festival of New Works sponsored by The Northampton Playwrights Lab and The Massachusetts Cultural Council.



  • Dig by Peter Kennedy
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    7–8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: Southwest, desert + 7 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, horror, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: Southwest, desert, Colorado, archaeology, Native American, navajo, gay, Medical ethics, dysfunctional family
    In a small desert town in southwestern Colorado, the death of archaeologist Sandy Adelfan is a catalyst for friends and family to begin excavating their own tangled pasts. Greg, Sandy's son and colleague, has come into grisly archaeological knowledge that his father had kept hidden to protect his foundation's relationship with the local Navajo tribes. Becky, Greg's ex-wife, returns to the...
    In a small desert town in southwestern Colorado, the death of archaeologist Sandy Adelfan is a catalyst for friends and family to begin excavating their own tangled pasts. Greg, Sandy's son and colleague, has come into grisly archaeological knowledge that his father had kept hidden to protect his foundation's relationship with the local Navajo tribes. Becky, Greg's ex-wife, returns to the Southwest for Sandy's funeral and a final reckoning with Greg, who may or may not have left her for dead in the desert years ago. The Skinwalker, a spectral figure that haunts the desert, begins to infiltrate the Adelfan family narrative as reality starts to deteriorate and trusted relationships erode.

    Dig was selected as a national semifinalist for Kitchen Dog Theatre of Dallas' New Works Festival in 2016, Landing Theatre of Houston's New American Voices Playwriting Festival in 2015, and Manhattan Theatre Works' National Newborn Festival in 2013. It also received an Off-Off Broadway staged reading at The Brick by Obligatory Theatre in New York City in 2014.
  • A Sudden Loss of Altitude by Peter Kennedy
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    2
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama + 1 more
    ·
    Keyword: LGBTQ, online hookups + 3 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama, political
    Keyword: LGBTQ, online hookups, closeted politician, risk, hypocrisy
    A one night stand from an online hookup rapidly deteriorates as both participants realize they’ve exposed their vulnerabilities to the wrong person.


    A Sudden Loss of Altitude was produced Off Off Broadway as a selection for T. Schreiber Theatre's Schreiber's Shorts Festival in 2017. In addition, it was produced Off-Off Broadway in the 2016 Act One: One Act Festival at the The...
    A one night stand from an online hookup rapidly deteriorates as both participants realize they’ve exposed their vulnerabilities to the wrong person.


    A Sudden Loss of Altitude was produced Off Off Broadway as a selection for T. Schreiber Theatre's Schreiber's Shorts Festival in 2017. In addition, it was produced Off-Off Broadway in the 2016 Act One: One Act Festival at the The Secret Theatre in New York City and as part of RL Productions' Hookups: Volume 1 in Fort Lauderdale in 2017.


    "A first-rate example of short drama." - Steve Capra, www.newyorktheatre.blogspot.com
  • Deep Water by Peter Kennedy
    Recommendations: 1
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 3 more
    ·
    Keyword: marriage, divorce + 4 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, drama, horror, mystery/thriller
    Keyword: marriage, divorce, ghosts, Haunted House, breakup, infidelity
    A divorcing couple prepares to move out of the house that is haunted by their past relationship--and possibly by something else.

    Deep Water was produced as a 2014 winner of The University of Houston's National Ten-Minute Play Contest and the 2014 Boston Theater Marathon.
  • Disconnections by Peter Kennedy
    Recommendations: 2
    ·
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    ·
    Keyword: 9/11, family + 3 more
    Genre: dark comedy, drama
    Keyword: 9/11, family, last words, Voicemail, bravery
    Three voicemails: New York City, Washington, DC, and United Airlines Flight 93. How do you find closure when there's no one on the other end of the line? What do you say when you know your voice is already becoming part of someone's past? Three intersecting monologues reveal the tragedy, humor, and quiet grace of ordinary people confronted with extraordinary events.

    Disconnections...
    Three voicemails: New York City, Washington, DC, and United Airlines Flight 93. How do you find closure when there's no one on the other end of the line? What do you say when you know your voice is already becoming part of someone's past? Three intersecting monologues reveal the tragedy, humor, and quiet grace of ordinary people confronted with extraordinary events.

    Disconnections was chosen as a finalist for both the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Heideman Award and City Theatre of Miami's National Short Playwriting Contest. It was also produced as a finalist for Little Fish Theatre of Los Angeles' Pick of the Vine National Short Playwriting Contest.
  • Family Game Night (ten minute version) by Peter Kennedy
    Recommendations: 4
    ·
    Cast: 
    4
    ·
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy + 2 more
    ·
    Keyword: dysfunctional family, funeral + 6 more
    Genre: comedy, dark comedy, farce, political
    Keyword: dysfunctional family, funeral, Medical ethics, end of life, right to die, death, gay, multi-generational
    A routine board game night turns darker as discussion turns toward what family members want (or don't want) when it comes time to make end of life medical and funerary decisions.

    Family Game Night was produced as a winner of the 2016 Theatre InspiraTO National Ten-Minute Play Festival, where it received a People's Choice Award for Best Play. It was also produced Off-Off Broadway as a...
    A routine board game night turns darker as discussion turns toward what family members want (or don't want) when it comes time to make end of life medical and funerary decisions.

    Family Game Night was produced as a winner of the 2016 Theatre InspiraTO National Ten-Minute Play Festival, where it received a People's Choice Award for Best Play. It was also produced Off-Off Broadway as a winning entry in the 2015 Long Island City One-Act Festival at The Secret Theatre in New York City and in 2016 by Oil Lamp Theatre in Glenview, IL.

    "...This play tackles family communication head on, and surprises with its sincerity and heartfelt performances...Best in Show." (Alina Butt, The Newspaper, The University of Toronto's Independent Paper)

    "I loved it. It was definitely my favourite of the six. Well written with natural dialogue...and about a subject that we don’t want to discuss, but should. I was particularly impressed that Kennedy managed to fit a plot twist into a 10 minute play. And the game! If it doesn’t exist, it should." (Sam Mooney, mooneyontheatre.com)