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About Ali

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Bio

Ali Keller is a writer, producer & dramaturg. Select writing credits: APPARITIONS (Workshop Theatre Intensive), (UN)CONDITIONAL (OFF-BROADWAY 2025, Soho Playhouse Lighthouse Series Winner 2024), BLOOD/SWEAT/TEARS (The Tank Limefest, HARP Theatricals), CHRISTEN THE PLACE (Norwegian Tour), BABY LAMB (Stowe Story Narrative Lab), SIX WEEKS NOTICE (Ucross Residency, Volland Foundation). Select production credits: INFERNA (The Tank, Valdez Theater Conference), LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL (Broadway), LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER'S SWEENEY TODD. She was a 2025 finalist for the Jerome Fellowship at PWC. She's an Affiliate Dramaturg at Beehive Dramaturgy and has worked with writers on scripts and productions throughout the US and internationally. 

Artistic Statement

My parents and brother don't watch TV unless it's sports or the news. I grew up hearing that narrative shows were useless because they didn't reflect reality, were one-sided and a waste of time. "There were more important things to do in life." That confused me. Narrative stories seemed like a great way to understand being human. But trying to understand why my family didn't understand that was what sparked my initial obsession with theater and film. The arts exposed me to people and beliefs that my Italian-Irish-Catholic-Conservative neighborhood was never going to. And my upbringing exposed me to thoughts and behaviours that growing up in an arts filled, Democratic, and diverse neighborhood would have never shown me either. I see the beauty, humanity, and horror in both. That's why I write.

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Whether I'm writing about fraternity girlfriends about to graduate and face the real world, a group of male friends who are trying to maintain their childhood friendships as adults with no emotional intelligence, a film crew working towards a deadline on their b-horror movie with no resources, a customer service agent who uses their love of wrestling to navigate everyday triggers, or married couples navigating their changing sexual fetishes, my characters are like the people I'd find in my neighborhood growing up exploring and pursuing topics and themes that their environments haven't really prepared them for - like unconditional love, shame, reproductive rights, mental health, elitism in the arts and the relationships between feminism, racism and capitalism. I ferociously mine dark subjects by revealing the humanity and comedy beneath them. I write about and for people who aren't typically interested in attending theater or films because they believe the arts "aren't for them."

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I write for people who feel the arts want to lecture, scold, or make fun of them. Those are the people who can be surprised that a story is empathetic towards who they are, rather than blame them for problems - which inspires discussion. No minds have ever been changed by winning an argument. But minds can be changed by listening, understanding, and trying to come to an agreement. I know beacuse I started as a conservative, catholic, antifeminist who didn't believe in therapy and didn't know they were neurodivergent. And now I'm a diagnosed neurodivergent feminist catholic democrat who's been in therapy for a decade. I dont write for people who grew up identifying with the culture they were in, I write for the people who had to grow our of their culture to see the good and the bad in it to move forward.

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I write to help people (and myself) better understand and radically empathize with the world around them. The wuestion my work pursues is: how can our opposition be an access point to grow together rather than something that drives us apart? And because I ask audiences to confront this idea through challenging subjects, I often partner with charities and organizations related to the shows' subjects so anyone inspired to help or who's in need can find assistance immediately. I hope my work helps people open their minds and hearts and inspires people to reach out to one another.

Thanks for reading!

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