A deeply affecting and emotionally honest drama, Rite of Passage explores grief, truth, and parenthood with striking sensitivity. Izzy Salant crafts vivid, authentic characters, particularly Harold, whose voice is both unique and deeply human. The play balances humor with heartbreak as it navigates an impossible moral dilemma, building to moments of raw emotional impact. Powerful, compassionate, and resonant.

Salant's specificity to an Autistic and Jewish perspective expands this devastating but hopeful story to an emotionally resonant universality. Harold is the most complex, fully fleshed-out, and compelling Autistic protagonist I’ve encountered in a while. So much made me sob while reading. Harold’s frustrations and struggles with school, family, and growing up made me sob. David’s mishandling of the worst news of his son’s life made me sob. The final stage direction made me sob. Beautiful.

Wonderful and heart-warming, how to manage very hard things with grace and humor. The characters are in turmoil and the stakes are high. I appreciate the autism depicted in a way that really felt true to my own autistic experience and resonates for me along with the loss and the grief and confusion for a young person to deal with loss... what a beautiful play!