Weaving together the forces of science and the most basic human need to be loved, Perfect is heartbreaking, funny and a full out challenge to look at what makes us who we are. Three story lines jump time and space, all dealing CRISPR genetics: young parents driven to create the perfect child; a trans-dressing athlete defying his parents dream of a superstar son; a brilliant and driven mother and son team of PhD scientists working on CRISPR - he from a wheelchair with boundless dreams, she from the corner of a a life hard lived. A beautiful, timely, human play.

Though this play centers on near-future scientific break-throughs, it's totally accessible to the non-science person. That's because the characters display the timeless human emotions to which we all relate, just experienced in a world where designing the attributes of one's future child is a possibility. The questions it compellingly asks couldn't be more relevant in today's world, and I followed the intertwining stories with interest as the characters grappled with what such scientific sleight-of-hand meant to them - their hopes, their fears, their senses of right and wrong. An enormously thought-provoking play.

It's really hard to write a play about scientific and societal concepts in a way that is dramatically interesting. Yet Jonathan Luskin succeeds with his gripping play PERFECT. The three compelling, interlinked stories in the play use the backdrop of gene editing technologies to explore what it means to be human as we ease into a complicated near-future. Our society's very recognizable characteristics of deep parental anxiety, hyper-competitiveness, and, of course, capitalism all influence the choices these characters make. This play left my mind buzzing with questions about where CRISPR will lead us.