Kenneth Jones’ acclaimed play Alabama Story has been seen in more than 40 cities around the nation, including at LAMB Theatre. His work has been produced or developed at Pioneer Theatre Company, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Clarence Brown Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Peninsula Players, Florida Studio Theatre and beyond. Other work: Tennessee Williams Drank Here; Two Henrys; Hollywood, Nebraska; Circa 1976; Ten Minutes on a Bench; It Happened One Christmas; Naughty/Nice; Voice of the City. He is a member of Dramatists Guild. ByKennethJones.com.

NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT

There’s a small town in far western Nebraska where I’ve spent time, as an outsider, with people I love. Its heyday is over. Its population has dwindled to about 2,400. There is drought. Some storefronts are boarded up. There are farms both fallow and fertile. Missile silos that once held weapons aimed at Russia during the Cold War have been decommissioned. An oil boom ended. A railroad cuts through town, but it no longer offers passenger service. Interstate I-80 diverted traffic away from Main Street — the old Lincoln Highway — a long time ago. When I first visited there, I walked around the one-traffic-light downtown. I browsed at a thrift shop. I took pictures of broken windows at the Wheat Growers’ Hotel. I attended a church service. I shared dinners and played cards in a parlor with widows who loved to laugh and talk about their history. I was curious and inspired. I wondered about residents past and present — who left? who stayed? and why? — and it all made me think more deeply about what it means to lead a “creative life.” That dot on the map in the middle of nowhere was the jumping off point for my writing Hollywood, Nebraska.

---Kenneth Jones

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