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FERTILE GROUND by Jennifer O'Grady

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  • Nora Louise Syran:
    18 Apr. 2024
    “ As a mother, a sister, a wife and writer, this play was so intensely relatable. But one does not have to be a woman or hopeful mother to understand the hold that grief, desire, depression, and longing have on us. I was immersed immediately from the start and the story does not let go. It is haunting and yet hopeful; naturalistic in its dialogue and yet darkly poetic. "Whenever there’s unconditional love, they take advantage." Brava, playwright. ”
  • Rich Rubin:
    16 Apr. 2024
    “ An absolutely riveting drama about the tangled web of family, and the profound level of harm often inflicted by those who are closest to us. Jennifer O'Grady takes us on a narrative ride that provides surprises at every turn, yet -- by the end -- makes total sense. Brilliant! ”
  • Philip Middleton Williams:
    16 Apr. 2024
    “ Upon hearing this play presented as a part of the Playwrights Thriving Reading Series, my first thoughts went to the classic Greek tragedy of Medea and the degrees that one might go to when pushed to their limit. But Jennifer O'Grady's play is more subtle and lulls the audience into thinking they're going to be seeing a drama of a family dealing with loss and disappointment. And then we are drawn in, not by startling horror, but the realization of the inevitable outcome of betrayal and self-inflicted retribution. A powerful and compelling story. ”
  • Christopher Soucy:
    16 Apr. 2024
    “ Brilliant examination of the intimate obsessions and trecherous machinations of familial relationships. O’Grady masterfully paints a portrait of sisters in orbit around a woman who murdered her two year old child. We are given a casual stroll into darkness as bonds between husband and wife, mother and child, and sister and sister are fleshed out with subtle ingenuity. ”
  • Daniel Prillaman:
    16 Apr. 2024
    “ If you'll pardon the pun, there's so much to dig into with this staggering play. From the vast musings of what makes a mother and parent capable of filicide (or what drives them to it), or what we owe to our own flesh and blood (especially if we envy them), O'Grady's play sets laser focus on a family unit struggling with the same questions until they become deeply personal. Too personal. A modern Greek tragedy is in play, and yet, full of life. Absolutely haunting. ”
  • Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend:
    15 Apr. 2024
    “ Wow this play is great! I love how messy and complicated all of the characters are, as we watch things become more and more tangled. The scenes in prison with Willa gave me big Silence of the Lamb vibes. A wonderful piece about the angels and devils inside us all. ”
  • Peter Fenton:
    15 Apr. 2024
    “ Wow! This was a bone-rattling, incredibly brutal family drama with no clear winners and no clear losers. Jennifer O'Grady's FERTILE GROUND is a tightly-written tragedy exploring motherhood and filicide and a classically Machiavellian "ends justifying the means" story that just leaves you gutted. The dialogue and characters are grounded in such a way that hits way too close to home in all the best ways. It's easy to see how this play was a semifinalist for the O'Neill and I highly recommend any black box theater take a serious look at this one. ”
  • Jillian Blevins:
    20 Sep. 2023
    “ A taut domestic tragedy set against the backdrop of the unthinkable horror of filicide, FERTILE GROUND explores a dark (and relatable) niche of the human psyche. O’Grady’s layered characters each look at each other and see someone who has what they themselves desperately desire—a child, a loving partner, freedom—and who has taken it for granted. The tragic action unfolds when that assumption leads them to betrayal, and worse. Most intriguing is the hauntingly spare characterization of Willa, whose horrific crime throws the rest of the play into stark relief. ”
  • Aly Kantor:
    16 Sep. 2023
    “ This tight, tense, and addictively readable drama does something incredible - it manages to illustrate how impossible it is to thrive as a woman under the patriarchy. Amazingly, it accomplishes this while maintaining a strikingly close point-of-view on a handful of very flawed, incredibly broken characters. The play is simultaneously heightened and believable, and the characters could easily be people you know. It is carefully crafted and enticingly structured so that everything falls into place like in the best Greek tragedies. The threads effortlessly come together, forming a chilling but illuminating story about cycles of violence and the monstrous feminine. ”
  • Kim E. Ruyle:
    9 Apr. 2023
    “ Fertile Ground is absolutely gut-wrenching. Jennifer O’Grady masterfully sets up the dominoes, and they fall with precision as the play unfolds. The multi-dimensioned characters are flawed, but we care about each one and can’t help but be horrified by the tragedy of this tale but left with a sliver of hope, a beam of light and life in the end. Truly fantastic writing. ”

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