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Recommendations

Recommendations

  • Abigail Imgrund:
    12 May. 2023
    "Hearts Like Planets" is unique because I’ve never read a play about superheroes. Szymkowicz did a fantastic job of making the characters and painting a picture of this world. Furthermore, Szymkowicz lets there be creative liberty with stage directions and characters. The main character often talks to the audience, making you keep reading and get involved with the characters. This is perfect for modern audiences!
  • Bethany Dickens Assaf:
    16 Sep. 2021
    A treat from start to finish: from the first few lines, I found myself completely enraptured by Szymkowicz's confident and colorful world-building. I also appreciated the oxygen the play gives each moment to develop into something hilarious and human (examples abound, from a wildly funny scene between two nurses to the "doughnut" conversation). These are not digressions; rather, they sum up to a very fine exploration of the joys of life: ever present if we would only embrace them.
  • Corinna Schulenburg:
    20 Jun. 2021
    After falling in love with Hearts Like Fists, I was so thrilled to watch a reading of Hearts Like Planets. It has everything I love about Fists--kickass women, great fight scenes, delirious love, and of course, Doctor X--but it's also Queerer and stranger in exciting ways. I particularly loved meeting Orphan Drillnose and the intoxicating Darkness (who should totally get a spinoff, I mean a girl can hope).
  • Cheryl Bear:
    25 Jan. 2021
    When the end of the world is coming, it puts things into perspective on what's important. After all, in the end love is all that matters. Love!
  • Vince Gatton:
    13 Aug. 2020
    The imminent end of the world may seem like an odd time to take a chance on love, but honestly...if not now, when? This comic book apocalypse caper is a joy from start to finish, with hilarious camp elements, genuine tugs at the heartstrings, and a delicious dry wit throughout. In juxtaposing fantastical occurrences with our most banal, relatable, human-size responses, Szymkowicz finds a blend of sweet and salty that I found deeply satisfying.

    (I should add that I have yet to read or see Hearts Like Fists, but had no trouble experiencing this independently as a standalone play.)