←

Drive by Deborah Yarchun

  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Reading List

Recommendations

Recommendations

  • Gilbert Girion:
    6 Mar. 2024
    “ If I may, I just finished reading THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, by Larry McMurtry. In both novel and film I can't help noticing the similarities with DRIVE, Deborah Yarchun's wonderful play. There's an emptiness that hangs in the air. Thalia, Texas and the flatlands and cornfields of I-80 are of a piece. Like THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, characters in DRIVE are defined in large part by their time, and the place they live in. In DRIVE, Deborah holds her own in her depiction of character. She's obviously done her homework. High praise to Deborah for this unique and stellar accomplishment! ”
  • Dave Osmundsen:
    12 Feb. 2023
    “ Yarchun gives us a world transitioning into automatic trucking—what might life, both on the road and at home, look like if there are no humans behind the wheel? She populates this world with a cast of vibrant, complex characters whose hopes and heartbreaks feel palpable to the audience. Each of these characters wants to move forward, but doesn’t know how. And how can they, if the world they’ve been preparing for can change on a dime? With sharp, engaging, and layered dialogue, “Drive” is a glorious and devastating treat for actors and audiences. Excellent play! ”
  • Karen Saari:
    29 Dec. 2022
    “ Every character in this play is drawn with such clarity and humanity. While each of them likely saw the end of their industry looming ahead, they clung to a hope that it might survive. Their individual responses to having to leave the work and world of trucking are akin to what often happens in small towns when a major employer shuts down. The varied responses to "what's next" range from anger and grief to resilience and even newfound freedom. Beautful work. I recommend highly. ”
  • Nick Malakhow:
    26 Oct. 2022
    “ A subtle, powerful, potent work that captures so many of the fears, anxieties, and questions swirling around in the United States right now. In a society that so often equates self-worth and power with money and employment, each of these characters' dashed dreams or hopes for the future (sometimes coexisting at once) feels so urgent. It's so easy to see how and why these tensions and characters bristle against one another, but Deborah renders all conflicts with such a light, deft hand. With its intersectional focus and relevant themes, this play needs to be produced now, many times! ”
  • Sarah Tuft:
    24 Oct. 2022
    “ DRIVE takes us on a journey into the not-too-distant future where a group of truckers has just lost their jobs to self-driving trucks. But as timely as DRIVE is, this is not an issue play. Yarchun has drawn a rich tableau of distinct characters struggling to, not just survive, but find meaning in life after the road. Yarchun’s ear for dialogue and gift for language are matched only by her capacity for empathy in this play about loss, love, and the despair of having work define our worth in a culture driven by capitalism. ”
  • Cheryl Bear:
    10 Jul. 2021
    “ A timely story of the human struggle in a capitalistic world to find their way in an increasingly automated world. Well done. ”
  • D.W. Gregory:
    8 May. 2021
    “ Compelling and poignant, 'Drive' takes us to a world not very far in the future, in which self-driving trucks displace working men and women, leaving them to struggle not only for survival, but for meaning. Yarchun writes with great empathy and authority about a subculture that is rarely examined so honestly. I read 'Drive' a few months ago, and these characters are still with me, so vividly has she drawn them. ”
  • Emma Goldman-Sherman:
    30 Jul. 2020
    “ Drive feels so "this minute" because it's dealing with joblessness in the future that feels an awful lot like right now. It is prescient, but more than that, the despair is real. How we make meaning and feel valuable is one of those large questions that Yarchun addresses here with her marvelous ear for language, fabulous dialogue and so much poignancy. ”
  • Donna Hoke:
    9 May. 2020
    “ Yarchun is chronicling the demise of the trucking industry through the eyes of displaced drivers in one Iowa town, but the melancholy tone of the play and the despair of the newly unemployed cut across so many industries that have eroded in the wake of technology. This particular take on automation--unemployment--strikes a particular chord in May 2020 when so many are dealing with unemployment and these same questions of identity and value in the wake of forced joblessness. A gnawing, powerful, and poignant work. ”