SPF 11: Dusk at Nine Joy Street
Mattie and Herm blame their daughter Jenny’s drug death on her friend Curt, but when he shows up at their home each evening at dusk, the couple struggles to open themselves to a new way of dealing with their grief.
Development
Dusk at Nine Joy Street grew out of my 10-minute play, Suddenly in which a couple struggle to write their daughter’s obituary. Suddenly premiered in May 2017 at Image Theater in Lowell, MA and was chosen in 2019 by Elephant Room Productions for their opioid project, The Fifth Vital Sign, which included a podcast of the play. Other readings took place from Brooklyn, NY to Encino, CA. Because of the interest the play generated, last year I wrote a second and third scene and the result is Dusk at Nine Joy Street.
Ellen Davis Sullivan’s plays have been on stage in theaters across the country including in The Boston Theatre Marathon, The Indie Boots Festival (Chicago), and the Thalia Festival (New York City). Her one-act play Recessed! Or When the Mortgage Goes Upside Down was a winner of the Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theater 2013 Nor-Eastern Playwrights Competition. Ellen is an award-winning author of fiction whose stories have appeared in journals in print and online including Cherry Tree, Stonecoast Review and Moment Magazine. Her essay “The Perfect Height for Kissing,” won the 2014 Columbia University Nonfiction Prize and is published in Issue 53 of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art. Ellen’s plays have been published by Smith and Kraus, Applause Books and in Ponder Review. Ellen is a member of the Dramatists’ Guild and she is thrilled to have Dusk at Nine Joy Street in Summer Playwrights Festival 11.
Suzanne Hunt (Jenner) Actor, director, teacher, directed the Road’s, “Finding Fossils” by Ty DeMar:no earning several Scenie Awards including Outstanding Direc:on (2012) and she has directed for all 10 Summer Playwright’s Fes:vals. Suzanne serves as Ar:s:c Coordinator at the Classical Theatre Lab where her direc:ng includes the comedies: “The Last Days of Don Juan” (2019) and “The Country Wife”, both for West Hollywood’s Summer Theatre in the Parks. Suzanne also directs and produces many of CTL’s staged readings of classical plays which can now be seen on Zoom. Collegial direc:ng: “Three Sisters”, “Eurydice”, “The Laramie Project,” “The Great Gatsby,” and she is very proud of two college produc:ons she devised and directed, “When We Dream”, inspired by the poetry of incarcerated youth and “Na:on of Immigrants,” personal stories wriZen by Dreamers. Ac:ng credits include over 100 appearances in network TV shows, soap operas and commercials and leads in several award-winning stage plays. Suzanne is a cer:fied teacher in the Michael Chekhov Ac:ng Technique and is on the faculty at Pasadena City College, California State University, Northridge, American Academy of Drama:c Arts. A devoted Road member since 2010 – Suzanne is a proud ally to the BLM Movement.
“DUSK AT NINE JOY STREET”
Mattie Karsh – Janet Chamberlain*
Herman Karsh – Chuck McCollum*
Curt – Ian Waters
Stage Directions – Allison Blaize*
Original Music by Sean Chamberlain
*Road Company Members