OP_keys

   Who's Got the Keys is a musical comedy based on the everyday, on-the-job life of nursing. The cast of 20 includes nurses who are professional and nonprofessional actors/actresses. While open to the public, it does target nurses. The show is about an exhausted nurse who "discovers the real meaning of being a nurse'' by battling an evil, four-headed HMO monster with help from a wacky cast of characters.Through song, dance, and shtick, it is an expression of empathetic understanding and support for what often is characterized as a thankless profession; one might think of it as providing nursing care to nursing colleagues and the profession.
     On the day of the premier opening of the 'Keys', May 1,1998, tragedy struck the show which was also being performed as part of the observance of national Nurses' Week. After a rehearsal in New Lebanon, New York/USA, five cast members were killed when the vehicle they were riding in was engulfed in flames after a head-on collision with a tractor-trialer rig. They were on their way to Albany for a rally at the State Capitol by a grass-roots nurses' organization called the Florence Project which publicizes problems related to health care.
     In tribute to its lost cast members, Who's Got the Keys premiered in May of 1999 and has since presented performances in several cities in the US.

Diskin, Robert: Bob, 41, was from Canaan, New York/USA and a critical care nurse in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Prior to entering nursing, he was in show business for 15 years as a lyricist, writer, producer, and director. He appeared on Broadway, e.g. with Rudy Keeler in A Tribute to Ziegfeld, and in off Broadway productions. Bob also appeared as a dancer on Saturday Night Life and an Asst. District Attorney in the Young and the Restless, popular U.S. television shows.

Fletcher, Doug: Doug was from Mesa, Arizona/USA where he worked in ER and ICU. Known as a producer, playright, lyricist, and actor, Doug was the founder and publisher of the Journal of Nursing Jocularity and Conference Coordinator for Humor Skills for the Health Professional. He is credited for putting together the cast and writers of Who's Got the Keys.

Moss, Georgia Ann: Georgia, 44, was from Tampa, Florida/USA. Her nursing career of twenty years was in critical care including adult, peds, neonatal, and ER. She appeared in a made for TV movie, Death at Ocean View Park, and authored The ICU Nurses (incomplete) Disorientation Guide under the pen name of Jane McKay.

Rumsey, Diane Brereton: Diane, 41, had been a nurse for 16 years and had recently began doing home infusion after years as a hospital nurse. She enjoyed acting in high school and had several repertory theater performances to her credit. She reportedly met Bob Diskin serendipitously on a bus in Miami and saw performing in Keys as a means of satisfying her passions of nursing and theater. She was from Montclare, Pennsylvania/USA.