A potent, super-quick read that crackles with hilarity and explores the ways ambition warps and distorts one's behavior and worldview. High-speed volleys of dialogue alternate with thoughtful and thought-provoking monologues. The stakes start high and stay high--ramp up even--as the play progresses. Each character, even as they do contemptible stuff, remains three dimensional and complex. I appreciated that the couple of large, physical grand gestures of violence feel justified, human, and complex in their sloppiness.

In the cut throat nature of the scientific field, ethics and competition take on a world of meaning. A thought provoking and compelling play that asks some incredibly high stakes questions about rules, morality and the choices we make. Fantastic work!

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Gabriel Neustadt and his play Knockout Mouse as a finalist for our 2014 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one finalist out of hundreds of submissions, the strength of this play’s writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process.