Keaton DiBenedetto

Playwright, artist and adjacent things

About

I'm Keaton DiBenedetto, a twenty-one-year-old playwright, actor and artist located in New Jersey. I've done work both onstage and off stage, but I've found my calling primarily in playwriting. I'm influenced by the works of Julia Cho, Tony Kushner and Jean-Paul Sartre.My first piece is A Sisters' Storm, a family drama and tragedy in one act. A Sisters' Storm follows the lives of the sisters Rose and Pearl after the death of their estranged mother brings them together. However, when a Tarot card terrorizes Pearl, Pearl's paranoia spirals out of control as Rose's patience dwindles. Read Rose's opening monologue or find the staged reading here.One of my current projects, just finished, is currently titled The Staying Power of Stars. Simon awakens in a liminal space with no memories, with only the Starchild for company. Through games from childhood, he slowly discovers who he is and why life is worth living. Read Starchild's opening monologue here.

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Watch the staged reading performed at Two River Theater here

ROSE
Matilda Cambell, my mother. What is there to say about a woman who... (hesitating, contemplating her choice of words) affected so many people. It has been difficult for me to find the right words about someone like her. I knew this day was coming for a long time now and over the years I have written many drafts of what I might say today, but none seemed to fit. Even the words I am reading right now feel wrong, but I hope they still do justice to the woman my mother was. My mother was a woman who faced many struggles and obstacles in her lifetime, just like everyone and, just like everyone, many were not her fault. (Not believing her own words) I know that she tried her best for my sister and I. That her mistakes, no matter how great, came from a place of love. In her final years, my mother and I were not close, but, it is in the reflection of her life that I am reminded of the importance of forgiveness. I truly hope my mother may find peace in the afterlife, free from the burdens that weighed her down in this lifetime. Thank you for coming to remember my mother with my sister and I, and for embracing her complicated life.(An awkward moment of silence as ROSE stands still, her eulogy complete. PEARL goes to ROSE.)

STARCHILD
There are at least a hundred billion stars in this galaxy alone. A hundred billion shining miracles. Of those hundred billion, there’s only about five thousand that the bare eye can see. It’s such a gift to have those five thousand. To be able to look up and see the universe's expanse. If you look.(She shines her light into the audience.)How often do you look up? When was the last time you just went outside and admired the sky? Can you even remember?(She looks back up to the stars, sadly.)It’s not your fault. Five thousand is a stretch now, twenty is lucky. The sky is suffocating under the weight of the modern world. The light is being choked and mankind is in the dark.(She pulls out a pair of scissors from her satchel. She reaches out and touches one of the stars, hesitating to cut it.)“Just as we take the train to go to Tarascon or Rouen, we take death to go to a star.” There have been over a hundred billion people that have lived and breathed in the history of humanity. Maybe Van Gogh was right. When a person dies, they get to reside in the sky. That above our heads are billions of ghosts watching over us. Waiting for us to notice them. Waiting to guide us through the wilderness. What does it mean, now that the stars are running out?(Her thought is interrupted when her watch suddenly beeps.)Enter Simon.

Contact

Feel welcome to email or DM me at the socials below and I'll respond as soon as possible.[email protected]
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