Projects in development:
My writing partner Mark Gallini and I are proud that our four-part TV series about the life and humanitarian contribution of renowned poet/physician William Carlos Williams, based on a mash-up of his autobiography and short fiction collection, The Doctor Stories was a semi-finalist in the 2019 CineStory Fellowship Competition.
Beyond Suffern, a half-hour comedy pilot also written with Mark Gallini, was one of the top fifty scripts in Cinequest’s 2019 comedy division.
Good News for Behold Her: 5,000 Years of Jewish Women and Beauty
Behold Her was showcased at the National Alliance For Jewish Theatre Conference in October, 2018, and at the JPAP Conference in New York City, a new offshoot of APAP, in January 2019. Turns out, audiences are excited to Behold Her. Check back soon for news about the touring production we’re in the process of creating!
Daddy's Girl
A fun, funny, and emotionally authentic original musical about lingerie, love, feminism, and family politics. With a mid-size cast of all ages, genders and shapes singing and dancing in outrageous underwear, this is an old-style book musical that asks uncannily contemporary questions.
What’s a well-known feminist academic to do, when her father is the impresario responsible for direct marketing sexy/sleazy lingerie to American women (and men) for the first time -- along with all of the associated societal and political conflicts.
The book is completed, we’ve had one reading and are slated for a reading at BMI this winter. We’re actively searching for a composer/lyricist.
The Low Country
A pilot episode and bible for a one-hour dramatic series for TV, co-written with Mark Gallini (www.KassGallini Projects). The Low Country is set on a South Carolina rice plantation, during the hopeful and turbulent early years just after the Civil War. Many characters and episodes are inspired by historic events.
Like a uniquely American Downton Abbey, the series tells the story of Reconstruction from the perspective of both groups; the newly freed slaves, and their former masters on the plantation. When both groups arrive at the ruined plantation soon after the war with the hopes of re-establishing some means of economic and physical sustenance, conflict ensues immediately -- from new standards for polite greetings to the need to invent guidelines for working together as equals.
This show, intended for cable or streaming TV, is being circulated to potential producers. It earned high points on The Black List. The pilot script can be requested through this site.
Gemini
Gemini is the name of a popular pole-dancing move, performed by exotic dancers in both high and low-end strip clubs.
It’s also the informative title of a new one-hour series for TV that looks at the endless dichotomies and dualities surrounding this world. Starting with the fact that in this case, the owner of the strip club is a Harvard-educated woman attorney who is equally devoted to her well adjusted, loving family and her new career as the proprietor of a marginal club in a sketchy area of South Philadelphia.
Gemini revels in surprising reversals of expectations, including being seen through the perspective of women who are often more used to being looked at than being asked what they see about their own lives. Rich in heartfelt stories, suspense and emotional drama, the show delivers an atmospheric vision of wildly contrasting Philadelphia neighborhoods not easily forgotten. And, of course, a weekly ration of pole-dancing.
Pilot script is in process. Bible and Series Overview available on request. The show is intended for mature audiences in a cable or streaming TV environment.