MOUNT VERNON, NY — Mount Vernon native and Mount Vernon High School Class of 2003 graduate Duane Granston will have his original screenplay, Finding Matt Damon, featured at the 2026 Scranton Fringe Festival in Pennsylvania this October.
Granston, an actor and writer and a descendant of Jamaican immigrants, wrote Finding Matt Damon as his capstone project in the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University. The screenplay will receive a staged reading on Saturday, October 10, at 3 p.m. at the Black Scranton Project Cultural Center in Scranton. In addition to writing the screenplay, Granston will step into the lead role of Sean.
Finding Matt Damon is a romantic comedy centered on Sean, an insecure software genius trying to recover from a broken heart. After telling aspiring screenwriter Jasmine that he knows Hollywood star Matt Damon, what begins as a small lie quickly grows into an increasingly complicated effort to turn his fiction into reality. When the deception finally unravels, Sean is forced to confront his insecurities, abandon the image he has created and discover the confidence to be himself.
“This witty rom-com will resonate with anyone who has ever found themselves over their head,” said Mandy Pennington, board chair of the Scranton Fringe Festival and director of the staged reading. “Duane has created something truly special in this screenplay. You can’t help but love these characters and see yourself in their hopes, fears, and missteps. That’s the magic of a great story.”
A Story About Vulnerability and Finding Your Voice
For Granston, the screenplay explores something much deeper than the outrageous situation at the center of its comedy.
“I think people will really connect with the ups and downs of these characters,” Granston said. “Even if you’ve never done something as extreme as Sean does, you know what it’s like to maybe fake it a little bit in a moment when you are afraid you are not enough. Getting over that fear of vulnerability and just letting ourselves be who we are is something that we all have to come to terms with at some point.”
Granston said representation was also an important part of his approach to the screenplay. Rather than centering Black characters solely around hardship, he wanted to tell a story filled with humor, romance, friendship, and joy.
“It’s important to me to create stories that aren’t just focused on Black characters’ trauma and pain, but ones that express light and joy and friendship and love in fun ways that we’re not used to seeing,” he said.
From Mount Vernon to Stage and Screen
Granston’s creative work spans theater, film and voiceover. Most recently, he starred in the award-winning short film The Finish, with his performance earning a nomination for Best Acting in a Leading Role. Now, portraying a character he created himself adds another dimension to his journey as both an actor and writer.
“Stepping into Sean’s shoes is a full-circle moment,” Granston said. “The story has been a fun exploration of the parts of ourselves that want to hide and what it truly means to discover your genuine voice.”
The presentation is part of an ongoing partnership between the Scranton Fringe Festival and Wilkes University’s Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. Now in its fourth year, the collaboration provides emerging writers with an opportunity to see their work move beyond the page and into a live production setting. This year will mark the first time the partnership has featured a screenplay.
“Both Wilkes and Scranton Fringe do an incredible job of nurturing writers at every stage of the creative process,” Pennington said. “When creative writers participate in Scranton Fringe, not only do they have a platform to showcase their incredible storytelling abilities, but they learn what goes into producing an original work from start to finish. That’s experiential learning at its best.”
For Mount Vernon, Granston’s appearance at the festival is another example of a hometown creative carrying his talents beyond the city while continuing a journey that began long before graduate school.
Finding Matt Damon will be presented Saturday, October 10, at 3 p.m. at the Black Scranton Project Cultural Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The PG-13 staged reading will run approximately 60 minutes and will be followed by a brief audience talkback. Tickets are $15 and are available through the Scranton Fringe Festival.
