Jordan Ramirez Puckett:
3 Jun. 2020
“
Every theatre in America should be reading this play right now and producing it. It's poignant and unfortunately very timely. I hope to see a production of it very soon. ”
Recommendations
Recommendations
- Chris Klinger:18 Mar. 2020“ This is a POWERFUL piece of theatre that examines the dangerous effects of social media and how the truth can be manipulated to fit a narrative. The unfiltered truth Hashtag Jones throws at the audience about how Black Lives are perceived in America is unsettling, yet necessary. The way it is written gives whoever directs this piece lots of creativity to play with staging. It received a much-deserved standing ovation when performed at my school's Black History Program! Highly recommend! ”
- Asher Wyndham:3 Jun. 2019“ Highly recommend this powerful short play for any festival raising awareness on BLM and police brutality, and also any showcase of shorts on the negative effects of Internet and technology on our lives.
Using an inventive structure, with a poetry that feels soulful and embodied, Matthews captures the disgusting narratives and tweets that go viral around Black male victims of police violence, in doing so dehumanizing/criminalizing/ pathologizing Black men for entertainment.
This is necessary theatre at its finest, it's theatre for social change.
” - M.r. Fitzgerald:3 Jun. 2019“ Matthews' hit at the stampede that is trending news on social media and how it heartens the entire world to put victims on "trial" based on biases and rumors instead of delving deeper for the truth....and how the truth itself is trampled beneath the landside of Twitter. ”
- Rachel Bublitz:4 Jan. 2019“ A powerful play right off the page, imaging it fully staged gives me goosebumps. Matthews doesn’t hold back, I’m especially drawn to the flaws she finds with both sides, those defending and those scrutinizing, and how the situation displays how black children aren’t allowed to be children. An excellent short piece of theater. ”
- Rachael Carnes:4 Jan. 2019“ This powerful play plunges us right into the icy water, where we feel for the character, while we see our own foibles laid bare. It's a remarkable duality that in Matthews' capable hands, seems effortless. This play offers commentary, and genuine emotional resonance. It's not simply political or polemic, it's heartfelt, moving, distilling down to poetry. If I were a High School English teacher, or a College professor, I would use this play, reading it in class, to demonstrate that theatre, as an art form, is alive, and important. ”
- Ellen Koivisto:21 Dec. 2018“ When we mistake tweets for news, when we mistake commentary for reality, we mistake lives for hashtags. Meanwhile, our boys are being killed for no damn reason. Read the play. ”
- Sharai Bohannon:21 Sep. 2018“ This short script is a punch to the gut. Matthews takes these horrible shootings and combines them with the worst parts of social media (and society as a whole) to reflect back to us a different tragic aspect of the black lives lost simply because they were black. I can't recommend this script enough and I applaud Matthews for being able to tackle tough topics in so few pages. ”
- Brayden Frascone:13 Sep. 2018“ Liv Matthews' powerful play reminds us that despite the flooded media landscape of hashtags, breaking news stories, and political commentary, we must never forget the humanity of those who are no longer here to tell us their stories. ”