8 Near-Death Experiences is brilliantly constructed like the experience of a person suffering from mental illness or being in the orbit of a person suffering from it. You’re adrift. The ground is constantly shifting beneath your feet. Your thoughts ping pong from one idea to the next to a memory to a fear before spiraling out of control. This beautiful play is about holding on and letting go and simply trying to survive in the liminal space between.

Wow wow wow, this drama is great. It’s told in a nonlinear way, which puts you just off kilter enough to make you feel solidarity with Matt’s feelings of being unmoored. The dialogue is so natural and some of the stage directions are so fantastical that I want to see this staged just to see how they pull it off! What a sweet, sad play about mental illness and its ripple effects.

I especially like the way Hilder portrays his protagonist's mental illness. It is both a toxic imaginary friend (who kept reminding me of Mr. Applegate from Damn Yankees for some reason) and an atmosphere that grows sicklier the further Matt slips into its embrace. The latter provides the play with an engaging sense of urgency. I'd love to see this one realized by a skilled tech director.