Jeff Dailey: Bio and Playwriting Information.
Jeff Dailey, a man forever keeping ‘all things theatre close to his heart’, lives by the mantra, ‘it’s all theatre’ (akin to that ‘oft spoke quote’, “All the world’s a stage!”).
Born and bred in our ‘Northeastern Ohio Country’, Mr. Dailey has made many moves across the nation, the most important of which was his landing on Manhattan Isle before settling in Washington DC and now Milton, Delaware — a bucolic little town and well worth the mention, it being ‘home to Dogfish Head Craft Brewery’, don’t you know?
Dailey’s quest, that of writing ‘the perfect play’ (the best play ever!), assures his never being alone (?!), and in such ‘questing’, Jeff trod the boards of many a stage. His most memorable performance and one true to form (oh, my!), was that of Shakespeare’s Edmund, Gloucester’s bastard son.
Falling into his longest running performance (again, far removed from playwriting), Jeff sang the late John Denver’s and Placido Domingo’s duet, “Perhaps Love,” some twenty-five hundred times over a contracted two-year period at a Lincoln Center establishment. And, yes, here is but one more example of the far too many detours on Jeff’s playwriting quest (writing plays takes beaucoup time and so it goes!).
Assisting in the development and management of others’ careers, this along with promoting what are best termed ‘theatrical and special event adventures’, brought Mr. Dailey ultimately, to the most drama-filled of stages, that of the classroom where he welcomed in adolescents with emotional disability.
Education.
- The Catholic University of America [Music and Vocal Studies].
- James Madison University [Bachelors, Theater].
- The George Washington University [Masters in Education].
And the Playwriting?
Despite a play being selected for workshop at a DC theatre, along with a request by NYC’s “Circle in the Square Theatre” (that a submitted Dailey play be held for consideration), playwriting progress was realized only through a series of one-acts used in studio work at the Herbert Berghof Studio in Greenwich Village. In other words, time for writing ‘Jeff’s perfect play’ remained elusive (but not for long!).
Enter in that all-important ingredient: having a supportive partner, one providing newfound time and more time then again. Result: a most important play began taking shape.
Entering into workshop
An Angel with Flowers; Broadway Bound in 2017 BC [Before Covid-19] is a two-act play entering into workshop (end of February 2022), and Mr. Dailey looks forward to this developmental process under the auspices of the Lewes Public Library’s “Spoken Word Society and Shakespeare Festival (Lewes, Delaware).”
Inspiration for a play
An Angel with Flowers is a play inspired by two quite ordinary occurrences. First, the playwright found himself looking down on a magazine cover emblazoned with words citing a mystery ongoing — unresolved to this very day some may argue.. Captivated, a question popped into Jeff’s head, the question repeating over and over again — ‘what if they knew, what if they knew’? Yes, this was the first bit of inspiration.
Next came an inspiring painting titled “Pilottown Road into Lewes.” In the painting, the road itself seems to be hiding someone on the far side of the horizon line, and who might that someone be?
It was these two occurrences that sparked what is now Mr. Dailey’s challenging play set in the environs of Lewes, Milton and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
The play itself
An aging couple, a couple enjoying retirement in their lovely home located in the noted beach environs, contend with a pervasive loneliness and, yes, the suppressed consideration of losing life, one before the other. In other words, whose death will then end their longstanding relationship?
It is such loneliness that stirs Donald Angel and John Flowers to seemingly pluck a nice young fellow – an artist, to boot — out of life’s hustle and bustle and into by contrast, their provincial lives — never mind the young gent having appeared to them in a dream – a ruse, perhaps?
The play’s prevailing winds so to speak, include mention of lightships and their protection of sailors at sea, as Art and Nature and the creative process are pitted against lies and concealments both small and ‘huge’ and certainly, all is consequential, consequential indeed. Such untidiness (so many lies!) propels the play beyond its local geography, taking us into realms of national and international security concerns.
Making a judgement
The play contains but one judgment, an indictment of young people now grown old, who missed their generational opportunity to do good in this world benefitting those who inevitably follow.
A tragicomedy
The play is a many-layered tragicomedy delivering ‘perennial sensibilities on Life and relationship’ — advice one can easily place in her or his pocket for future consult.