James Keller
Raised in Australia. James Keller lived in London, taught at Birkbeck College, the International Film School of London University, and received awards for new drama from the British Arts Council. As a US citizen, his writings include plays produced at the Magic Theatre, adaptations for ACT, Ashland Shakespeare Festival, the Marin Theatre Co and Stagebridge. His fable, The Traveller: A Magical Journey, was published by Greenwich Press. For Berkeley Adult School and Orinda Community Center he teaches drama, film and poetry from Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare to the modern poets, as well as literature of India, China and Japan..
His plays include:
| Caterina | romance | ||||
| Undine | ballad | ||||
| The Snow Queen | musical | ||||
| Gang Of Grandmothers | comedy | dovetailing Aristophanes with I Love Lucy: A gang of Berkeley grandmothers makeover Hunter Hunter, a teen dropout who has been sent to spy on their organization by the ubiquitous Alpenstock. Meanwhile a 70 yr. old Hispanic Lucy and her friend Ethel create mayhem and mischief when they and Senior Tigers gatecrash the exclusive men-only Knights Club dressed as their husbands Ted and Dick. Alpenstock reveals his true identity and all converge for a free-for-all at the Midnight Club where Hunter Hunter is transformed into suave Gary Hunter and the entire cast sing a rap song, Free-for-all. | |||
| Birds Of America | |||||
| Senior Moments | oversexed teachers confused about their plumbing give way to overeducated ones confused about humility | ||||
| The Hypochondriac | updating Moliere’s Imaginary Invalid | ||||
| Two-Part Invention | |||||
| Climbing With Alma |
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| The Unknown Soldier | A therapist takes a shell-shocked man on a journey back to his roots to find out who he is. | ||||
| Iris And Her Girls | 2008 | Are the gods dead or do they go among us in disguise? | |||
| Nebraska Blues Trilogy | |||||
| Leave Of Absence | 2009 | drama | Harriet, a housewife in her mid-sixties disappears from home, as she takes leave of her memory with the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. Hank, her husband who retires with the sudden disappearance of his pension fund, realizes too late that he has been "absent without leave" from his life since he lost his mother at the age of ten, and now must work full-time to pay for his wife's nursing home. Their story intermingles with the visits of one of their sons, Tom and his wife, Kate who have to face a personal crisis of their own. | ||
| Child's Play | |||||
| Aunts And Uncles | |||||
| Autumn in August | 2009 | ageing, euthanasia, and reconciliation of a dysfunctional family | |||
| The Seventh Age | 2009 | compilation | Revue encompassing reflections on youth and old age in the works of Shakespeare. The ingeniously choreographed text for two actors and two actresses quotes from fourteen plays, also a sonnet, a song and a dance. Available for middle schools, high schools and senior facilities. | ||
| Good Housekeeping | 2010 | comedy | A comedy about a missing dog - A comedy about a delayed dinner - A comedy about an elderly teenager - A comedy about the young at heart - A comedy about domestic chaos - (A comedy for/and contra Helvetica) | ||
His poetry collections include:
| Report From The Interior | ||||
| Testament | ||||
| The Journey Is Home | ||||
His other writings include:
| The Traveler: A Magical Journey | 1997 | fable | (Greenwich Press 1997) | |
| Call The Muses Home | a journey through the arts | |||