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We Are A Masterpiece by Gina Femia

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  • Mark Loewenstern:
    2 Nov. 2021
    “ A beautiful ensemble play, accessible and moving. At its center is an ordinary person who sacrifices much because she has decided that the difficult thing is the right thing to do. It's easy for us to look back to the dawn of AIDS and see the need for someone like the heroine Joan, but Femia throws us into the maelstrom of those days so we may appreciate how and why the helpless were abandoned. It's a remarkable exploration of that moment in time, and is relevant to any time when there is struggle between fear and compassion. Wonderful work. ”
  • Nick Malakhow:
    30 Aug. 2019
    “ Wow! I knew this would be affecting, but did not realize how often during reading I would ugly-cry on public transit! This play is a veritable masterpiece itself. The nuanced and so-carefully stitched together and chosen scenes were the ultimate example of powerful "showing vs. telling" in script writing. I felt even for the characters I disagreed with. Though this tale was fairly geographically and socially self-contained, it pulsed with such incredible universality and truth--really moreso than other canonical AIDS crisis plays that I've seen or read. I'm eagerly awaiting the chance to see this in production. ”
  • Michael Goodwin Hilton:
    20 Feb. 2019
    “ This was the play I needed to read this week. Femia has found a way to write about the AIDS epidemic in the 21st century: post-ironic, deeply personal. She proves herself to be not only playwright but magician, conjuring those from the margins - nurses, janitors, artists - to tell about those who died in the margins. "Choose to remember" Ryan exhorts us. Without question, this mesmerizing play will be remembered for a long time to come. ”
  • arroyo monfiletto:
    2 Feb. 2019
    “ I cried in my workplace when I first read this play. It's tender, delicate, and most wonderfully, focused sharply on the ways in which inter-community tragedy obstructs basic human connection. A play about love in a time of plague, this story tells us how much we still have to learn about the human heart. ”
  • Sharai Bohannon:
    26 Jun. 2018
    “ I'm in love with this play. It's a masterclass in storytelling that has led me to cry in a public space. Femia does an amazing job of wrapping us into this epic tale while making it feel delicate and intimate every page. The world needs more plays like this. Please produce this far and wide!! ”
  • John Bavoso:
    4 May. 2018
    “ Stories about the AIDS crisis are my emotional kryptonite, and WE ARE A MASTERPIECE is no exception. Femia has filled this play with such beautiful, devastating, funny, heartbreaking, and human moments. And Joan is such a good role for a talented actor! ”
  • Scott Sickles:
    3 May. 2018
    “ WE ARE A MASTERPIECE is The Play We Need Now about the beginning of the Great Gay Plague, in 1982/1983 when no one knew anything, prejudice surfaced without shame in people we thought were noble, and gay men stopped dying by the hundreds and started dying by the thousands. It reminds us that a disease that's largely manageable today once seemed unstoppable.

    Tiny battles and almost imperceptible explosions build and build through characters as real as our loved ones fighting insurmountable odds and the petty tyrannies of their community. The play succeeds in being political by being unfailingly, deeply personal. ”
  • Dave Osmundsen:
    2 May. 2018
    “ An epic, beautiful, and big-hearted play about a tragic period in US history. Through the story of one ordinary woman named Joan, Femia weaves a narrative that emphasizes the necessity of empathy for each other, regardless of our differences. The subject matter could easily become melodramatic, but Femia smartly portrays it as a snapshot of a specific time, place, and mentality. Her characters are strong and vivid not because they have agendas, but because they are real people struggling to get through confusing and difficult circumstances. A strong entry into the AIDS Drama genre. Bravo! ”
  • Ashley Lauren Rogers:
    1 May. 2018
    “ I was lucky enough to see this live. Gina masterfully crafts a story about multiple people affected by the AIDs crisis without pulling focus from the gay community affected most by it. We Are a Masterpiece is a satisfying and cathartic gut punch that is well worth your time to read and absolutely worth consideration for production. ”
  • Emma Goldman-Sherman:
    1 May. 2018
    “ Joan is a heroine for our time! I saw this play produced in NYC, and it is a moving portrait of a moment in our history when straight people were clueless as to how to respond to what eventually became AIDS. This play is much more than a document, it is like a prayer - it is a path - it is a way of responding that raises us all up. ”

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