Staged reading of ‘lost’ Kerouac play tonight at thestudio

Just 20 seats are available for a staged reading of Beat Generation, a play by iconic beat novelist Jack Kerouac, presented tonight at thestudio@620.

Kerouac, the author of the seminal On the Road, spent his final years in St. Petersburg, living in relative anonymity. He died from complications of acute alcoholism in 1959, at St. Anthony’s Hospital.

The St. Petersburg literary group is sponsoring the staged reading, which features an all-woman cast: Tori Baird, Natasha Samreny, Skyla Luckey, Reneata Griffin, Rita Buchan, AJ Trinci, Lisa Brave, Samantha Skye, Margaret Murray and Linda Fajvan. 

Beat Generation was never performed during Kerouac’s lifetime; it was believed lost until 2005, when a copy was discovered in a New Jersey warehouse. The play premiered in 2012 in Lowell, Massachusetts – the author’s hometown – as part of the Jack Kerouac Literary Festival.

Skyla Luckey

Actor and author Skyla Luckey is directing the 7 p.m. reading in celebration of Women’s History Month.

Written in 1957, shortly after On the Road was published, Beat Generation follows Kerouac’s longtime literary alter ego Jack Duluoz, drawing from Kerouac’s life and those of other Beat writers including Neal Cassady and Allen Ginsberg. The short film Pull My Daisy (1959) was based in part on the play’s third act.

Ticket proceeds ($10 per) will support the Studio@620. They must be purchased here in advance. The production will also be livestreamed on thestudio@620 Facebook page.