Cheryl Bear:
24 Jul. 2020
“
A powerful exploration of connection as others make us question our choices, but perhaps find something stronger exists. Well done. ”
Recommendations
Recommendations
- Emma Goldman-Sherman:19 Oct. 2019“ There is a wonderful perception shift in the play where you realize what you think is not what is happening, and this is a great pleasure for an audience! ”
- John Minigan:19 Aug. 2018“ "To Love and Be Loved in Return" is a beautifully constructed spiraling in toward the middle of an affair--but not the affair you think you are hearing about. It's a devastating, clear portrait of people who, in the midst of losing their sense of love, are finding one another and finding a truth that, maybe, will sustain them in through the lies they have been told. Lovely, surprising, carefully wrought work that gives us a final moment in which one of the characters feels exactly what we feel watching her. ”
- Ben Rosenblatt:20 Apr. 2018“ Gorgeous and heartbreaking. An insightful short play about the longing for perfect love. I connect deeply with Gonzalez's take on relationships and romance, even though it's a tough pill to swallow - that the satisfaction found in fantasy can never last in reality, but the false hope it might never fades. Also enjoyable, is the continual subversion of expectations both in this play and in his other work. I'm a fan. ”
- Lindsay Partain:12 Apr. 2018“ Gonzalez has written a hefty play in just 8 pages. Quiet, heart breaking, finding trust when trust has been broken-- a thought provoking piece about relationships and finding the strength to say what has gone unsaid. ”
- Jordan Elizabeth Henry:9 Apr. 2018“ Gonzalez guides us through twists and turns in this short gem of a play that has nuance, depth of character, and a haunting quietness. I love the way form parallels theme here: the characters deceiving the audience at the top; the deceptions of the unseen spouses; the way the Man and Woman deceive themselves and each other. Perhaps my favorite part is the magical thinking these characters participate in: conversations they wish they were having with someone else; a romance between them that remains perfect because it is never fully-realized. There's so much to consider in this short play. ”