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Keith Curran

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American playwright and actor (1956–2024)

Keith Curran (February 29, 1956 – September 18, 2024) was an American playwright and actor.

Life and career

Curran grew up in Boston. He had nightmares as a child and used that experience, as well as his desire to have a child, as a basis for his 1989 stage play Dalton's Back. The play juxtaposes scenes about a boy's relationship with his mother with scenes of the boy as an adult who thinks he wants to have a child. The New York Times said that while Curran's approach is earnest, it is not "particularly revelatory or theatrical to draw straight lines between related events from childhood and adulthood". Critic John Simon called the play boring. Dalton's Back ran from February 9 to March 5, 1989, at the Circle Rep.

Curran's next play, Walking the Dead, follows a lesbian who has a sex change to become a man and is murdered by homophobes. Simon commented that the purpose of the play, also performed by the Circle Rep, was to "irritate the hell" out of the audience, and that it spewed bile equally at heterosexuals and bisexuals. Two selections from Walking the Dead were included in The Best Men's Stage Monologues of 1991.

His play The Stand In was included in The Actor's Book of Gay and Lesbian Plays. Variety said the play "epitomizes the best in small theater: A sharp, funny script ... skewers nearly anything that moves, including filmmakers, publicists, talkshows, award shows, religions, gay activists, journalists and musician Yanni".

Curran's on-stage work included the musicals Just So (as the Giraffe) and Mayor. While Simon panned the production of Just So, calling it insipid, he singled out Curran and Teresa Burrell stating that their performances were "flavorous" and overcame the poor material.

Curren was gay. He died on September 18, 2024, at the age of 68.

References

  1. ^ "Keith Curran". Cape Cod Times. October 2, 2024. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  2. ^ Kelli Pryor (February 20, 1989). New York Magazine Growing Pains. New York Media, LLC. pp. 30–. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  3. FRANK RICH (February 10, 1989). "Review/Theater; Sloughing Off Scars Of a Bad Childhood". The New York Times. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  4. ^ John Simon (May 27, 1991). New York Magazine Theater Review: Walking the Dead. New York Media, LLC. pp. 72–. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  5. Guernsey, Otis L.; Sweet, Jeffrey (1989). The Best Plays of 1988-1989. Applause. ISBN 9781557830579. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  6. Beard, Jocelyn (1991). The Best Men's Stage Monologues of ... Smith and Kraus, Inc. ISBN 9781880399026. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  7. Lane, Eric; Shengold, Nina (November 21, 1995). The actor's book of gay and lesbian plays. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780140245523. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  8. "The Stand-in". Variety. March 13, 1995. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  9. John Scott, New York Media (December 16, 1985). New York Magazine Review: Just So. New York Media, LLC. pp. 101–. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  10. "States of Schlock". New York, May 27, 1991.
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