IMPORTANT–THIS IS NOT a COMPLETE LIST OF WORK. YOU CAN FIND THAT (NO FANCY PICTURES OR LINKS) HERE

My name is Daniel Kinch. I also answer to Dan as well as a variety of other names (sometimes to ‘Jerry’). I studied acting in college at University of South Florida (and afterwards), but my interest is (and always was) in writing plays–I studied with the late great Jack Gelber at Brooklyn College. I’ve written lots of plays. If you want to know way too much about my work, my biography is over here.

This page is about the shows I’ve written(many of which I’ve performed in). Basically, I write about troublemakers. I write about activists and people who’ve put themselves on the line for a cause. I’ve written for myself and others. I decided to write one-person shows because they were easy to get mounted and can be toured with little more than a bus ticket. I have written multi-character plays as well, but scrolling down is necessary. And now, to preview my work!

TWENTY BLOCKS NORTH OF THE ROCK PILE: A play about 9/11, co-written with Actor/playwright Ben Roberts. A play about surviving a terrorist attack and the stories that followed. Presented at the Orlando International Fringe Festival in 2019. Ready to perform this year, the 20th anniversary. Both Ben and I lived through the nightmarish day of 9/11 in New York.

TWENTY BLOCKS NORTH OF THE ROCK PILE is a companion piece to a monologue I wrote about 9/11 entitled THE STORY OF FALLING DON. True story about my survival on 9/11. It was presented at the Theater for a New City in 2004. The two plays could be presented as separate plays or combined for an evening of theater.

PLANET PHUCKETT/PLANET HOSPICE

I have premiered PLANET PHUCKETT !! (a lighthearted exploration of the sixth stage of grief, gallows humor)on video. PLANET PHUCKETT!! is the precarious environmental state of the world as narrated by Dr. James Light, an environmental scientist cashiered from his teaching job for talking a bit too much about issues of the end of the world. In despair, he has created a ‘clown show’ of sorts about the state of the world and what we must do to prevent (or accept) the fate that nature has in store for us. The play is based on the work of of Dr. Guy McPherson It premiered at the Ithaca Fringe Fest in 2017 and was part of the International Solo event here in NYC I also performed it at the Tampa Fringe Fest in 2018 and the Atlanta Fringe fest in 2019.I just created a video production for The Space UK (as part of their COVID productions), and you can find an excerpt of my short monologue from Planet Phuckett entitled ‘methane’ here: and there’s a review of the play in several places including here. It’s my intention to create another long version of the play for video. In the meantime, if you’re interested in a local performance, I need travel money, a couch, and a room to perform in (this is true of all my solo works). I also expect pizza and decent beer (no Michelob Ultra

HOW TO STOP THE EMPIRE WHILE KEEPING YOUR DAY JOB

First performed as part of Occupy the Empty Space, a performance event in New York at Judson Memorial Church in 2012. Subsequently toured much of NY and went to the Florida Fringe in 2018. Original video from 2012 here: 2016 March in DC here: This is a play about protest in times when the authorities are too quick to crack down.

Video of short play at Occupy The Empty Space event 3/18/2012 

Video of the ‘Citizens United Edition‘ performed in Zuccotti in January of 2014 

Performed in front of Lincoln Monument October 2016 as part of TAKE BACK DEMOCRACY rally.

A Clown, A Hammer, A Bomb, and God

On Good Friday 1994 (which fell on April Fool’s Day), a pacifist priest named Carl Kabat dressed in a clown costume (because he was a ‘Fool for Christ), broke into a Minuteman missile base in North Dakota and disabled a nuclear missile by hammering on its silo door so that it wouldn’t open. That part is a true story–and that’s what the play is about. I’ve had this play in rotation since 1997. It has toured the US and Europe. Complete history of the play production here.The play opened in 1997 and was performed in Europe and the US. A radio version was put on WBAI’s DEMOCRACY NOW in December 1999.

There’s a rough video of the play on Youtube here (taken in 2012 on Good Friday)https://youtu.be/5cBl0NLO91k

THE BP HUMAN EXTINCTION BAYOU BLUES:

A radio play about the Gulf of Mexico, five years after the Deepwater Horizon Blowout. It was first performed in April 2015 as part of a commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the accident. We meet Lon, a working Blues musician, who tells us what’s happened to his life since the oil began arriving on the beaches. Information about the play here. you can listen to a radio version of the play here.

A GOOD DAY 2 PIE: 

This is a play about Monsanto and a protester who hit their CEO in the face with a pie to protest GMO’s and Bio-piracy. The play was performed by Kathleen Stansell.

Video on Youtube

Review of the play performed at Brooklyn for Peace (spoiler alert)

The rest of my site is currently–

UNDER CONSTRUCTION:

The plays below have been produced but the site itself is not finished. Try us in July.

ON THE GRID: a play about the way that international ‘aid’ agencies stole everything that wasn’t nailed down in the countries of Africa and Asia. Details here.

The Hubbert Slope: The world has passed the peak of oil production (Hubbert’s Peak) and now we’re on the downhill run (the Hubbert Slope). And a retired Geologist who’s retired to Ireland wants to tell us what’s keeping him up at nights thinking about the ramifications. Just finished, waiting to start rehearsals when someone expresses interest in seeing it. More here.

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These plays are all written and could be performed at your venue with a minimum of fuss on your part. By ‘venue’ Imean your lecture hall, school, church basement, or theater. I perform outside if it isn’t raining. If you want me to come in and perform, you can contact me using the form below.

But enough about me

Three of the plays mentioned above were originated by others–the actors came to me, we collaborated, we found a story for them to tell. I didn’t think all these plays up on my own and I collaborated with actors and together we found a way to perform something distinctive and memorable. They turned out pretty well, as I recall. I can write on demand. My feeling is that the maximum length on a solo show is fifty minutes. You must start out by offering me pizza and good beer.

Do you have a story you need to tell? 

Contact me and we’ll talk.