←

BREAK by Sara Jean Accuardi

  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Reading List

Recommendations

Recommendations

  • Debbie Lamedman:
    28 Jun. 2021
    “ BREAK shows us the day in the life of a few middle-school teachers. But this isn't just any day. Accuardi meticulously builds the tension where we realize a student is hospitalized and the parents are holding a certain teacher responsible. Right or wrong, the occurrences in this play eerily and honestly mirror what it is like to be teaching in the 21st century. Combustible! This is an important play for our current time with fast-paced, sharp dialogue, and honest and relatable characters. Produce this play!
    ”
  • Nick Malakhow:
    20 May. 2021
    “ This world--the school, the students, the social climate--feels so fleshed out even though the piece examines just four teachers through a microscope. Accuardi's writing is economical and spare and so beautifully captures the natural, inelegant rhythms of human speech. The scenes are also so tightly and potently written. I felt for all of these people, and it felt clear the playwright did as well, even while not letting them off the hook. The bookending monologues punctuated the piece perfectly. This was so well structured and compelling! ”
  • Audrey Lang:
    9 May. 2021
    “ BREAK is a powerful play about the responsibilities and struggles that come with being a teacher. Its middle school setting feels particularly appropriate as an in-between time in life for a kid, when it's incredibly hard to know where you stand - and these characters, too, though they are adults, grapple with where they stand in their lives, professionally and personally. The relationships, both the ones we see onstage amongst the teachers and the ones that are referenced with their students, colleagues, and family members, are complex and strong and really well-written. I would love to see this play performed! ”
  • Cheryl Bear:
    23 Jan. 2021
    “ A powerful and honest look into what it means to be a teacher today and the incredible struggle they work under. Well done. ”
  • Kitchen Dog Theater:
    22 May. 2020
    “ We are pleased to support this play! It was a Finalist for the 2020 New Works Festival at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, Texas. ”
  • Scott Stolnack:
    17 May. 2019
    “ Sara Jean Accuardi has a gift for writing compelling, funny, heartbreakingly real dialog. A play about fitting in, and not fitting in. What begins as mundane and comical and a little mysterious transforms as if by magic into something much more serious and deep. A lovely play, and well worth a read. ”
  • Aleks Merilo:
    11 Feb. 2019
    “ This reminded me of growing up, assuming there was nothing more to the lives of teachers than what we saw in the classroom. The playwright deftly takes us behind the scenes, showing the frustrations, politics, compassion, and beauty of the profession. This script is proof that the most brutal violence can be delivered as a soft spoken comment from a superior looking for someone to blame, and real love can be just the act of not quitting. The ever present undercurrent of irony is a system requiring teachers to be humane while negotiating an educational system that is anything but. ”
  • Patricia Milton:
    22 Jan. 2019
    “ I enjoyed reading this play, and would like to see it performed. Tense and suspenseful, it really kept me guessing and engaged. I was drawn in by its lovely, natural, often funny dialogue, high stakes, and distinctive characters. ”
  • Emma S. Rund:
    18 Sep. 2018
    “ The opening monologue is completely captivating, and the body of the play after that did not disappoint. I laughed, I was stunned into silence, and I was moved to tears at the end. This is a beautiful, honest story about how to help people, and how incredibly inadequate we are at helping people. I'm in love with this play. I would love to see it performed. I think it is important for it to be performed. ”