Next Stage Press Acquires Licensing Rights To THE JONBENÉT GAME

Next Stage Press has secured the licensing rights to THE JONBENÉT GAME, a play by Tori Keenan-Zelt that was commissioned by San Francisco Playhouse and recently concluded its National New Play Network rolling world premiere run.

The production has been staged by American Lives Theatre, Unicorn Theatre, and Theatre NOVA as part of the rolling premiere process. The play examines memory, grief, and the cultural fascination with true crime.

The story centers on two women connected by a childhood game inspired by the case of JonBenét Ramsey. When they were 12 years old, best friends Molly and Rae secretly reenacted the case during sleepovers. Twenty years later, following Molly’s sudden death, her daughter Hazel arrives at Rae’s guidance office carrying the playbook the girls once used. As Hazel and Rae revisit the game, each confronts unresolved grief while navigating the unsettling ways true crime shapes how women process fear, trauma, and loss.

Playwright Tori Keenan-Zelt writes for both theatre and screen. Originally from Pittsburgh, her work often blends humor and horror to explore overlooked aspects of women’s lives. Her plays include THE JONBENÉT GAME, HOW THE BABY DIED, SEPH, TRUTH/DARE, AIR SPACE, and EPISODE #121: CATFIGHT!. Truth/Dare received a New York Innovative Theatre Award nomination, and Air Space was named a Kilroys Top 5 play.

Keenan-Zelt holds a BA from Harvard and an MFA from NYU Tisch Asia. She is an affiliated artist with New Georges, the National New Play Network, and the Playwrights Center, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. Her writing for Colonial Williamsburg’s Electronic Field Trip series on PBS earned her an Emmy nomination, and her one-act play How to Be a Widow aired on NPR’s Playing on Air.

She is currently developing her first feature film and a new play, The Permanent Collection, with Elinor T. Vanderburg and Portia-Krieger/">Portia Krieger through New Georges. Keenan-Zelt lives in Brooklyn and Nashville.

Founded in 2009, Next Stage Press is an independent publisher and licensing house that provides publishing and licensing opportunities for playwrights across the United States and internationally. The company publishes plays across a range of genres and supports writers throughout the theatre industry.

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