Rachel Hancock:
29 Mar. 2024
“
Bravo- this dual timeline piece was exceptional. I especially enjoyed June’s monologues. ”
Recommendations
Recommendations
- Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend:24 Dec. 2022“ This play takes place in the not-so-distant future when climate change has completely altered life as we know it. Seeing the characters go about their little lives despite the dust storms and the dead fish and the fact that cockroaches are flying now feels like a highly plausible emotional place where humanity will end up in a few decades. The argument that we have to keep trying and not get complacent is a powerful and necessary one for all of us. I particularly loved June's monologues, which read like poetry. ”
- Jared Michael Delaney:27 Sep. 2022“ This is an exquisite play, strange, poignant, skirting the edge of something akin to Mad Max, but with a smaller, quieter, very real concern. Worth your time and your reading. ”
- Nick Malakhow:6 Jul. 2022“ Such a beautiful, timely piece. I most appreciated Gibson's subtle but continuous world building--little details of this all too plausible speculative future were delivered at key moments throughout without ever feeling like exposition. Instead, the terrifying and complex realities of this world were made clear through the thorny relationships and internal/external conflicts portrayed onstage. June's poignant monologues punctuated the play gorgeously. I'd love to see this in performance! ”
- Jan Probst:1 Jul. 2022“ A beautifully constructed play, that confronts the climate crisis head on as it underscores the fallibility of the humans who try to save this precious planet. The characters are wonderfully complex, and through them Gibson does not present any easy answers, but offers conflict that is as much internal as external. This play leaves an uncomfortable question on the table: must the child sacrifice the parent to the cause? ”
- Greg Romero:28 Jun. 2022“ I had the pleasure of watching a reading of this play at the 2022 Valdez Theater Conference, and there is so much that impressed me about Emma Gibson's writing. This play is expansive, imaginative, beautiful, and addresses the climate crisis with urgency and eloquence. Gibson's characters are complicated and human and there is so much that Gibson tells us through suggestion, subtlety, and how smartly the play is structured. And the play offers such fun theatrical possibilities on stage! Excellent work that I hope finds many homes in production. ”
- Michael C. O'Day:25 Jun. 2022“ A poetic and penetrating examination of a tragic truth - the great movements that we'll need to save this planet are dependent upon fallible, fragile, squabbling, messed-up human beings. Gibson is somehow able to find hope amidst the heartbreak, suggesting that our ability to heal ourselves and forgive each other might be the path forward for all of us. ”
- Greg Lam:21 Jun. 2022“ The story of a former high-profile climate activist now dealing with a deteriorating environment who has to decide whether to take up the fight again with someone who betrayed her trust. Or else stay on the sidelines, in the comfort of a loving family? Shades of Amy Berryman’s Walden in tone and theme, but with its own unique well-drawn world and indelible characters. ”
- Dave Osmundsen:17 Jun. 2022“ Wow! Complex questions about love vs. duty, the cost of activism, and our responsibility to our planet and to each other are woven through this compelling and haunting family drama. The playwright also builds a vivid world where the environment is on the brink. I look forward to this play’s future. Fantastic work! ”
- Premiere Stages:7 Apr. 2022“ Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize IF NOBODY DOES REMARKABLE THINGS by Emma Gibson as a Semi-Finalist for the 2022 Premiere Play Festival. IF NOBODY DOES REMARKABLE THINGS rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 35 semifinalists out of 655 submissions. The panel was particularly impressed by the poignant blend of the climate crisis’ dire urgency with how the characters continue on with the mundane everyday. Our congratulations and thanks to Emma. ”