Local Author Spotlight: Jack Neary
Local Author Spotlight
Jack Neary
Please describe your writing routine. Is there a time of day or place that is most productive for you?
I do most of my writing at the Barnes and Noble Cafe in Manchester. I’m a playwright, and once the initial drafts is done, I work with actors to hear what the work sounds like, and to rewrite based on that experience.
Is there anything in Lowell or in the surrounding area that has inspired your work? Such a place to take nice walks or a piece of artwork?
Most of my work has been inspired by my upbringing in the erstwhile Sacred Heart Parish in Lowell.
What do you believe are the most important elements of writing? How do you incorporate it into your own work?
For a playwright, it’s the combination of a strong story and deftness with dialogue.
What advice would you give to a young writer and/or a writer starting their first creative work?
Do it, don’t talk about it. If you’re writing a play, get it into the hearts and minds and mouths of actors as quickly as possible. A play isn’t a play until actors and directors participate in the process.
What were your favorite books when you were a child?
I did more living than reading as a child. I read more as I matured.
Do you have any reading recommendations?
For me, Dreiser, Frank Norris, Ring Lardner
JACK NEARY is the author of TRICK OR TREAT, produced off-Broadway at the 59E59th Street Theatres, starring Gordon Clapp. His previous collaboration with Mr. Clapp was AULD LANG SYNE, which premiered at the Peterborough Players and received five New Hampshire Theater Awards, including Best Professional Production. His 2022 play, MOONGLOW, recently completed a successful six-week run at the Majestic Theatre in West Springfield after its introduction at the Players’ Ring in Portsmouth.
His most recent play, THE STANDS, currently nominated for 8 New Hampshire Theatre Alliance Awards, was produced in 2023 at the Players’ Ring in Portsmouth, NH and will be presented at the Firehouse Center in Newburyport in May, 2024. Other recent works are THE PORCH and KONG’S NIGHT OUT, published by the Dramatic Publishing Company. He has directed at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, the Greater Boston Stage Company, Meadow Brook Theatre, Threshold Theatre and many other professional theatres. As an actor, he has appeared on screen in THE TOWN and BLACK MASS. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Actors’ Equity and SAG/AFTRA. His work is also represented by a number of play publishers, including Concord Theatricals, Dramatists Play Service, the Dramatic Publishing Company and other publishers. His web site is here.