A brilliantly constructed and highly theatrical tour de force featuring escalating suspense and a jigsaw puzzle of surprises. Its large cast of young characters should make it especially appealing to university theater programs. Bravo and thank you, Aleks Merilo!

I had the pleasure of seeing The Hanging Girl at the 2025 Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival. Good God, it's terrifying! Often, Horror on stage falls into either camp or parody; but this piece plays it straight. A group of teens. The Woods. A dirty secret. A puppet. A ghost. An old story pushing through the barriers of time into the present with terrible consequences. This play is expertly crafted and tightly woven. Read with the lights on!

I love any story that creates a local legend, which always lends it a real sense of place, as well as being effectively creepy, and this play does that really well. The theme of whether or not we're forever defined by our youthful mistakes, if we're ever truly able to change who we are, is potently rendered and lends the story a genuine pathos. The chilling ending makes for an appropriately eerie capper!