Hello creators! My name is Ken Harris.
I was born and raised in Springfield, MA. I have 3 brothers and we had a positive middle class upbringing. My father worked as a purchasing manager for the former Digital Equipment Co0poration and my mother served as a nurses aide and personal care attendant.
Growing up, I had a natural liking for movies and devising my own stories and performing them to whoever would listen.
In 1994, while a junior at Commerce High School, I joined the school's Drama Club. My first role was as "Ezekiel Cheever" in the "Crucible Play". This same year, I auditioned for the Northampton Team Players Drama group and was selected. We wrote a play titled, "Hey, Wake Up", a story about drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and gang violence. This play was performed at high schools throughout western Massachusetts and in the Boston, MA area. Segments of this play was filmed by Springfield's local PBS station and featured in the program, "The State We're In".
After high school and unsure of what I wanted to do as a career with my passion for acting still intact, I took immediate acting classes at the Springfield Drama Studio to refine my skills. After that, under the guidance of the late La'Kuicha Parks, I landed supporting roles in Jelupa's theatre productions of "Bring it On Home", "The Colored Museum", and "Flying West." I managed to secure a supporting role in Sean Ireland's Independent film, "Sway".
While attending Springfield Community College, an English professor told me she didn't think I had what it takes to be a successful writer. By coincidence, I stumbled upon a Black History Essay Contest at the college. Just to prove her wrong, I entered my Essay about the "History of Black Cinema" into the competition. After I won first prize, she mysteriously felt compelled to always praise my abilities until the end of the semester (she overdid it and I was getting tired of it. lol).
In 2005, I moved to the Atlanta, GA area to work as a Corrections Officer with hopes of still doing theater and writing whenever I can. My first short screenplay, "Sinister Choices" won 3rd prize award at the 2008 Atlanta Urban Media Makers Film Festival. Two years later, I landed a role as the Centaur in Henry County Theater's seasonal production of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe".
In 2012, after the loss of my father, I returned to Springfield, MA. My 5 minute monologue for the 2016 "Money, Money, Money" Valley Voice Slam held by New England Public Radio, became an official selection and I performed my hilarious semi-autobiographical story before a sold out audience at the Northampton Brewery. The live show was well received and chosen to be placed on the NEPR website.
This positive reception as a solo performer boasted my confidence even more as a writer and enabled me devote more time to crafting stories.
In late 2019, my proposed edutainment web series, "Cyber Brats", a show with silly puppets highlighting cyber security awareness and fraud prevention, was selected for the new Spondulics Broadcast Network and appeared as a biweekly program from 2020 to 2022. I wrote, performed, filmed, and edited the entire series.
During this time, I also devoted my time to creating my first short film, "That Gone Darn Scam", a movie inspired by an actual grandparent scam in East Longmeadow, MA. The film won the 2021 Audience Choice Award at the F5 Financial Focus FilmFest in Orlando, Florida. This win was followed by winning the 2022 Holyoke's Entreprunerial for All (EforAll) Idea pitch. My concept consisted of an innovative way to use filmmaking as an financial literacy tool with puppetry.
During the summer of 2023, Springfield Mass Studios and Cellar Door Productions wrapped up indie production on my feature length screenplay, "A Mind Made for Murder", a crime suspense and comedy film. I also have a cameo role in it!
This year I have been shopping around my feature length horror suspense screenplay, "The Forbidden Pendant". It's a different type of story centered on a very dishonest medical professional. When a doctor gains possession of a magical pendant capable of eliminating the terminal illnesses of his patients, he indulges in fraudulent billing practices until adversaries catch on to the scheme, prompting him to unleash a patient as a sleepwalker to eliminate foes, unaware of the pendant's consequences.
I am currently working on my one man play, "Foes of a Minimum Wage Guard", a comedy drama about an old security guard combating shoplifting and back stabbing associates. Stay tuned!
My story and successes have been featured in the Orlando Sentinel, Cultured Focus Magazine, Puppeteers of America, The Reminder, The Wilbraham Times, and many other online and print publications.
Happy to be here!
1 person likes this
Thank you, Richard!
My pleasure, Kenneth. Welcome.