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Recommendations

Recommendations

  • Brent Alles:
    22 Apr. 2024
    Of course the absurdity of the premise was created by our whacked-out times, but the premise allows for Blevins to go exploring in a very enjoyable manner. It's darkly funny while at the same time able to probe many issues deeply, which the best satire often does. The interaction between David and Talia is great - funny at times, poignant at others. Easy to see why this is an admired 10-minute, and it would be an excellent piece for festivals and actors around the world. (Except, perhaps, for those places that need a good laser blast.) Great sci-fi stuff!
  • Shelby Seeley:
    17 Aug. 2023
    I had the privilege of seeing this piece performed at the 48th Annual Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. This was easily one of my favorites of the festival. It was smart, suspenseful, and hilarious. The story thrusts us into space with a unique setting and high stakes, has well rounded characters, and asks important questions without stopping the flow of the action or urgency of the story. I completely bought it, even as a staged reading. Could go on forever- please read this play and consider producing it!
  • Michael C. O'Day:
    11 Aug. 2023
    A dark and propulsive delight. Blevins is juggling a lot of balls here - science fiction, workplace comedy, political satire, and Talumdic ethical debate - and does so with giddy aplomb. It's hilarious, it's heartbreaking, and it might just make you wish space lasers were real (heavy though their burden may be).
  • Jessica Feder-Birnbaum:
    28 Jul. 2023
    Truly unique, thought provoking and at times darkly funny. The "anti-semitism - who is really a Jew" trope takes a high stakes turn as Talia and David, in their laser-armed satellite must decide if they are to eliminate the evil forces that threaten to annihilate the Jewish people.
  • Philip Middleton Williams:
    28 Jul. 2023
    Turning right-wing nutsery on its ear and into a lesson on history, faith and practice, as well as delightful humor makes this short play a fun and important tale to share. Jillian Blevins' laser-sharp dialogue, endearing characters, and comic touches never miss the target.
  • Tom Moran:
    24 Jul. 2023
    You wouldn't expect a 10-minute piece about a Jewish space laser to plumb the depths of the semitic soul, but Blevins takes that route here, and does it well too. She takes an absurd premise and treats it with a winning mixture of humor and gravitas, all leading up to a cliffhanger ending. What a fun read.
  • claire dettloff:
    21 Jul. 2023
    this play is loaded - with history, nuance, gravitas, and humor. the world blevins has crafted is so beautifully specific and functions perfectly for the subject matter. with the resurgence of so much hateful, anti-semitic rhetoric, space laser, in space! couldn't have come at a better time.
  • John Mabey:
    13 Jul. 2023
    The best comedies make us laugh and think at the same time. And in SPACE LASER, IN SPACE by Jillian Blevins, we meet two characters who hilariously and earnestly wrestle with themes of faith, Judaism, and antisemitism while confronting each other and themselves about their own sense of identity. The high stakes throughout juxtaposes beautifully with the absurdity of the situation itself based on antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes, making a play that's not only wildly entertaining but also incredibly poignant.
  • Vince Gatton:
    13 Jul. 2023
    Jillian Blevins could have written a hilarious Jewish Space Laser sketch and left it at that, but her brain and heart have a lot more to say. Here she takes one of the stupidest anti-Semitic conspiracy theories of recent times and spins it into workplace-comedy gold...and then takes it a step further, shifting slyly into a deeply serious -- even Talmudic -- debate on the nature of Jewish identity, obligation, and history, before hurtling toward a rivetingly intense conclusion. Excellently executed, all around.
  • Ryan M. Bultrowicz:
    22 Apr. 2023
    Blevins, in an incredibly engaging way, brilliantly highlights the complexities and challenges that are intertwined with identity. Tension, suspense, introspection, immersive dialogue - I'm enamored by the way this piece is designed to stay with you. Oh, how I'd love to see a live version of this one!

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