This play makes poetry sing and lets youth fly. "Exquisite Corpse" does exactly what the art form asks of its creators: to draw from different perspectives without inhibition, to sharpen the knife of artistic instinct. The girls of Mary Magdalene's Preparatory are desperate to be heard through their poems, whether humorous or heartbreaking, and Smith's own effortlessly poetic dictation allows the classmates the space to be heard, seen, understood -- and published. I hope this reaches audiences young and old alike.

EXQUISITE CORPSE is an exploration of creative energy—how it makes us tick, how it clashes with others, etc.— that is contained within a girls prep school but reaches beyond the classroom to comment on art-making as a whole. As a sometimes-poet myself, I was charmed by the poems written by the play's characters, as I recognized them as ones I have written at some point in my life—haven't we all written poems about almonds or wisdom teeth? To that end, the young women of the play further distinguish themselves through idiosyncrasies both eccentric and human. A memorable read!

A breeze and a joy
Depth in layers poetic
See what I did there?

Or for those who won’t get why it’s funny to write a recommendation in a haiku:
This play is a damned joy to read. And its brilliance lies in how many layers that one can choose to dig, or not, for enjoyment.
Its surface layers will enchant and engage, and the more you contemplate the more profoundly wonderful it gets.
In short, this play about school girls writing poems feels like it is indeed a well written poem. I highly enjoyed it.