Janet Kenney

Janet Kenney

Janet has recently finished her seventh full-length play, Cape Haven, about a family whose members are in agonizing transition. Other plays include her “one woman show for three or more actresses,” Theresa at Home (Boston). Which Janet will perform in a one-woman film this winter, More Than What (Boston), a collection of short intertwined plays, My Heart & My Flesh (Boston, Sonora, CA) and Globus Hystericus...
Janet has recently finished her seventh full-length play, Cape Haven, about a family whose members are in agonizing transition. Other plays include her “one woman show for three or more actresses,” Theresa at Home (Boston). Which Janet will perform in a one-woman film this winter, More Than What (Boston), a collection of short intertwined plays, My Heart & My Flesh (Boston, Sonora, CA) and Globus Hystericus (commissioned by Theater Emory, Atlanta). She has written over a dozen 10-minute plays as well as some one-acts, screenplays and short stories. Her memoir, What Else but Grace, is in search of a literary agent. She has a M.A. in Playwriting from Boston University and a degree in Theater Arts from The University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Plays

  • More Than What by Janet Kenney
    Cast: 
    8
    ·
    Genre: comedy, drama
    Genre: comedy, drama
    The 7 connected ten-minute plays plays tell the stories of the two existing families and the new family created by the wedding of Jack and Andrea in the hours, days and weeks before and after the event. For example, in More Than What, Jack and Andrea, very-newly wedded, hit their first crisis when Andrea reveals a secret about herself and her bridesmaid. That happened 20 minutes ago. In Ma in her Kerchief,...
    The 7 connected ten-minute plays plays tell the stories of the two existing families and the new family created by the wedding of Jack and Andrea in the hours, days and weeks before and after the event. For example, in More Than What, Jack and Andrea, very-newly wedded, hit their first crisis when Andrea reveals a secret about herself and her bridesmaid. That happened 20 minutes ago. In Ma in her Kerchief, Andrea and Jack's mother, Ruth, have to sort out their relationship when they're already running out of time. Each story can stand on its own. It's a drama that's also very funny.
  • Theresa at Home by Janet Kenney
    Cast: 
    3–8
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: newlywed, Catholic nuns
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: newlywed, Catholic nuns
    It’s 1956, late in an age of innocence, early in an age of upset. Theresa, who was just months away from taking her final vows as a nun, is now a newlywed. Horrified by the realities of married life – sex, a man, and the loss of a quiet life of devotion and sisterhood – Theresa finds herself overwhelmed, exhausted and knee-deep in unpacking. She is visited by her mother, her sisters, the Welcome Wagon Ladies...
    It’s 1956, late in an age of innocence, early in an age of upset. Theresa, who was just months away from taking her final vows as a nun, is now a newlywed. Horrified by the realities of married life – sex, a man, and the loss of a quiet life of devotion and sisterhood – Theresa finds herself overwhelmed, exhausted and knee-deep in unpacking. She is visited by her mother, her sisters, the Welcome Wagon Ladies and her former Mother Superior, all of whom have something to give, and something to take.
    The play follows Theresa as she struggles to invent a home for faith and beauty in her new life.
  • My Heart & My Flesh by Janet Kenney
    Cast: 
    3
    ·
    Genre: drama
    ·
    Keyword: pregnancy, motherhood + 2 more
    Genre: drama
    Keyword: pregnancy, motherhood, mild brain damage, learning disabilities
    For thirty years, Ma and Emily have been living in a tiny cramped apartment in relative peace. Emily has mild brain damage, and Ma has raised her in exactly the wrong way to raise a child with mild brain damage. Emily is the object of adoration of Lamar, a young man with a severe learning disability with behavioral maladjustments (although his cognitive skills are excellent). When she loses her job, he...
    For thirty years, Ma and Emily have been living in a tiny cramped apartment in relative peace. Emily has mild brain damage, and Ma has raised her in exactly the wrong way to raise a child with mild brain damage. Emily is the object of adoration of Lamar, a young man with a severe learning disability with behavioral maladjustments (although his cognitive skills are excellent). When she loses her job, he immediately proposes. Shortly thereafter, we discover that Emily is now expecting their child. Thrilled at the prospect of fatherhood and family bliss, Lamar assumes he and Emily will marry by week’s end. But when Ma refuses to let Emily marry because of a medical condition known as “hormone-head,” Lamar hangs his hammock and settles in for the long haul. The battle for the baby has begun.