Dead Relatives Reappear as Extra Mile Playwrights Opens Season

Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre Opens New Rush Hour Read Season with Last of Ken

DETROIT, MI — What happens when a man has spent his entire life avoiding conflict,

suppressing his feelings, and playing it safe—only to have his dead relatives decide they’ve had enough?

That’s the premise behind Last of Ken, a new comedy by Detroit playwright Ann E. Eskridge, which kicks off Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre’s new Rush Hour Reads season on August 19.

In Last of Ken, Ken is a married man who has become so thoroughly repressed that even the dead can see his life is going nowhere. So, they do what any concerned family might do: they

come back from the grave to stage an intervention. And Ken is not amused.

Directed by Lynch Travis, the staged reading features Essence Anderson, Deborah Carter,

Jacob (Jake) Cummings, Dalvin Harris, Kirk James, Byron Keys, David Moy, Jonathan Williams.

The performance is part of Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre’s Rush Hour Reads, a program

launched in 2023 to give Detroit-area playwrights an opportunity to put new work in front of a

live audience, hear how it plays in the room, and receive valuable audience feedback as they

continue to develop their scripts for production.

LAST OF KEN

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Live6 Alliance

7426 W. McNichols Road

Detroit, Michigan

ABOUT EXTRA MILE PLAYWRIGHTS THEATRE

Founded in June 2009, Extra Mile Playwrights Theatre made its home in Detroit’s Livernois and

Six Mile community in 2012. The organization brings together Detroit-area playwrights, actors,

and directors dedicated to developing and showcasing the extraordinary theatrical talent of the

region.

Through new play development, readings, and performance, Extra Mile creates opportunities for

Detroit artists to tell their stories—and for Detroit audiences to help shape the work.

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