Solos is the history of jazz in America, as told through the relationship of two people, in three movements and a coda. Ellie Grace is the well-educated daughter of a privileged family; Ben "Blue" Miller a working musician blowing his best and getting nowhere. New Years Eve of 1939, Blue meets society girl Ellie in a hotel ballroom. He plays in the band; her daddy owns the place. She's a gifted composer with no outlet for her music, and he's an itinerant musician, a "gypsy" without a way to the top. They begin a passionate relationship that lasts a life-time — she composes but is uninterested in performing; he plays her dazzling new music and accepts the acclaim from the audience.Her family and her insecurity keep her out of the performing spotlight, and he is more than willing to get famous by playing her groundbreaking work and taking the credit. The music scene changes, from swing and bebop through "free" jazz to melodic post-modern, with Ellie's compositions leading the way. Ellie is delighted to give her music to the man she loves, but becomes frustrated by her invisibility as the decades go by, with Ben unwilling to risk falling from the heights he has attained ... until things finally explode.
http://www.jrhayes.net/solos.html
Beginners Guide to Solos study guide
http://jhayes.wixsite.com/solosguide

"A touching story about love, truth, God and jazz as religion … a must-see performance." — Orlando CityBeat

"In Solos ... jazz trumpeter Blue Miller, whose love life is overtly stoked by Ellie Grace after meeting her on New Year’s Eve of 1939; he’s playing in the hotel her father owns. As Miller finds fame, Ellie’s covert skill as his ghosting songwriter drives the three-act drama. As a romantic meet-cute, Solos might ring familiar with a contemporary audience, but looking at the history of jazz music, you can start to follow the real rhythm." - Orlando Weekly

"This is great theater for adults – a show that touches on our emotions as we connect with a couple soaring on the wings of their shared love for music, only to seemingly fall when their differences become too challenging to mount. And that is not even the end of the drama." - R.T. Robeson, Freeline Media

"A play by Joseph Reed Hayes is a welcome oasis of cultured smarts at the Fringe, which tends toward the bawdier side of the spectrum. His Solos takes as its topic the development of jazz, as revealed by the decades-spanning story of a trumpeter and his wife, who secretly pens his 'original' compositions. Music fans will have a leg up in discerning how their working relationship reflects the flow of an entire American century; no such foreknowledge, though, is required to appreciate Hayes' smooth hand with dialogue." - Orlando Weekly

The story of Bobby Ace; semi-professional third-rate road musician half-way between last call and last chance, playing the songs of Tom Waits in seedy saloons and half-empty roadhouses. It is only when he loses himself in his fictional onstage persona that Bobby finds out who he truly is.
http://www.jrhayes.net/waitsplay.html

Gritty and worn-down, the neighborhood had little to offer the adults who lived there, and even less to a child. But children, especially those who grow up in the Bronx, are resilient, and survive harsh times through humor and a tough skin. A worn-down man looks back at his childhood, his family, and the almost legendary bar in the Bronx that still keeps its hold on him.
http://www.jrhayes.net/shorts.html

Three generations of women — the eccentric, hold-out-hippie grandmother, her conventional daughter, and the Goth granddaughter who is fed up with both of them — take a Sunday ride. A journey of discovery, tension, humor, affection and the near-demented discord that arises when family is in close proximity for more than ten minutes.
http://www.jrhayes.net/slowride.html

"There's both poignancy and joy in the way [Hayes] has cleverly captured the essence of a family's dynamics." - Orlando Sentinel

"To twist a sentence of Tolstoy’s, all happy families are alike, but every unhappy family bickers, snaps and snarls in its own unique way. Considering local playwright/event producer/restaurant critic Joseph Reed Hayes’ facility with language, the three women at the heart of his new play, A Slow Ride, are sure to quarrel with style." — Orlando Weekly