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Recommendations

Recommendations

  • Nina Ki:
    23 Sep. 2022
    I love that Celine Song brought the rich tradition and culture of haenyeos onstage, along with the very identifiable struggle of being a Korean playwright (real estate!!) within the white institution of theatre. Richly poetic, comedic, and heartbreaking - absolutely love this play!
  • Keiko Green:
    27 Jul. 2021
    Stunning and unexpected. This is one of the most fascinating plays I've read recently. I really loved Act 1 -- visually and rhythmically, but moving into Act 2 and coming face-to-face with how we use/exploit/shape our cultures to get attention from white institutions was something that deeply resonated with me.
  • Gina Femia:
    22 Dec. 2020
    This is one of my favorite plays of all time. Everything about it is perfect. It's funny, heartbreaking, and critiques theater in a highly theatrical and brilliant way. I'd watch this play everyday if I could.
  • Danielle Mohlman:
    25 Mar. 2020
    This play is incredible and I loved every minute of it. There was a moment halfway through, just as I was grieving the loss of one incredible character, when I burst out laughing on my couch. (You'll know the moment when you get to it. And I envy you because I'll never get to experience that moment for the first time again.) I long for the day when I can grieve and laugh with this play in the theatre. It's magnificent. Thank you, Celine!
  • Emma Goldman-Sherman:
    5 Mar. 2020
    I love this play, and the artistry that Song invests in it! I find this play in conversation with the forces that push me toward and propel me away from the brick wall that I keep throwing myself against called American Theatre. Theatrical, meta, moving and stunning on so many levels, the performance at NYTW will stay with me forever. Thank you for such an expansive, thrilling piece!
  • Monet Hurst-Mendoza:
    7 Mar. 2019
    This play makes me feel so seen as a person of color in this love-hate relationship with the American Theatre. Celine's writing is witty, honest and highly theatrical. This play offers an amazing opportunity for designers and directors to shine and places mature female Asian actresses at the center of the action. One of my favorite plays of all time!
  • Derick Edgren Otero:
    30 Jan. 2019
    I don't know a better play about ("about") haenyeos. Celine Song is naturally funny, smart, and inquisitive.
  • Benjamin Benne:
    6 Oct. 2018
    A standout play at the O'Neill this summer. It's a rarity in how expansive it is - going from an island in Korea to the island of Manhattan and spanning the underwater terrain in between. It reminds me of Aristophanes in its scope: HUGE and hilarious. Also, highly imaginative and fearless. The play looks at real estate and a person's skin and confronts some uncomfortable truths about POC in the theatrical profession. It's a play that will always stay with me and I can't wait to see it with the women actually diving at ART this coming season!
  • CQ, or C. Quintana:
    9 Jul. 2018
    This play makes me laugh, cry, and question the American theatre in fresh ways with every read. The language is rich and honest; the world is wonderfully theatrical and wildly satisfying. I had the pleasure of being a Fellow with Celine at the Playwrights Realm and CANNOT wait to witness this wonder in production.
  • Matt Minnicino:
    1 May. 2018
    I can't wait for this play to storm the ramparts of modern theatre -- it's just one piece of evidence of Celine's particular brand of genius, but it's a deeper dive (pun intended) into the impossible task of self-examination that all artists wade through, done without the usual helpings of narcissism or self-absorption. Instead, it's delicious and delirious and full of fun, fantasy, longing, and more meta than you could throw a stick at (in the best possible ways). Celine skewers the genre of "playwrights who write about themselves" and, at the same time, makes the world her oyster.