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Dayton native’s WWII play wins Futurefest’s top prize

M.J. Feely, a ’69 Alter grad, lives in LA; has written 20 works.

Blog: Blog: Play by Dayton native tops FutureFest

By Terry Morris, Staff Writer Updated 11:56 PM Sunday, July 26, 2009

Dayton native M.J. Feely’s post-World War II drama “Night and Fog” captured $1,000 and the top prize in the 19th annual Futurefest theater competition Sunday, July 26, at the Dayton Playhouse.

A panel of adjudicators voted it the best of six new plays produced during the weekend-long festival.

Feely, whose father was editor of the “Young Catholic Messenger” in Dayton, attended St. Albert the Great and Incarnation schools and was graduated from Alter High School in 1969. He now lives in Los Angeles.

He has written 20 plays. One of them, “Bookends,” was a finalist in the 2006 Futurefest and had a professional production in Philadelphia last year.

Other finalists were: “Darkroom,” by Devon Boan; “A Snake That Eats Itself,” by Chad Baker of Beavercreek, a student at DePaul University; “G-Man,” by Rosemary Frisino Toohey; “Quietus,” by Richard Manley; and “Carve,” by Molly Smith Metzler.

Festival director Fran Pesch said the people’s choice winner, based on audience balloting, will be announced later.

“Night and Fog” was co-directed by Saul Caplan and Deirdre Root. The cast included David Shough, as journalist Kevin Riley, and Charles Larkowski, as Ernst von Helldorf, with Geoff Burkman, Jennie Yeaman, K.L. Storer, Megan Cooper, Cheryl Mellen and Brad Mattingly.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2377 or tmorris@DaytonDaily News.com.

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