←Recommendations of TERMINUS

Beautifully crafted! The Haunts are so well used and slipping between Eller’s times is masterfully handled. I appreciate the power behind the Jesus-Cross-Nail. I had chills when, “HENRY takes off his hat and becomes THAT MAN once again.

A haunting piece about dementia, family trauma, race, identity, and secrets. The specters of Eller's past float in and out of the text in a way that heightens the theatricality of the play. Jaybo's complex relationship with his grandmother, his semi-absent father, and his own identity provide a perfect storm that keeps him trapped in its eye until the decisive final moments. Gabriel Jason Dean balances beautifully observed everyday speech rhythms with spare and lyrical text. I'd love to see a fully realized production of this!

A beautiful play that reveals a gut of emotional turmoil surrounding this Southern American family's experience of life with complicated dynamics and a strong connection to their higher power. Well done.

This beautiful play haunts. Gabriel Jason Dean's characters are so alive, his dialogue is natural yet achingly poetic, and the play builds momentum artlessly but irrevocably; it's a riveting read, and I can only imagine how wonderfully it works in production. Completely worthy of its accolades thus far, "Terminus" has made me want to read all of the plays in Dean's "The Attapulgus Elegies."

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Gabriel Jason Dean and their play Terminus as a finalist for our 2013 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one finalist out of hundreds of submissions, the strength of this play’s writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process.

This is a lyrical, visceral play. I found myself drawn into both the characters and the dialogue, to the point where I could almost feel the dark Attapulgus nights. A piece that continues to haunt even after it is finished. It would have a particularly poignant impact performed by a southern theatre company that engages with a community that extends into an older demographic, but also has younger members.

This is a beautifully written, dramatically rich, moving and sometimes funny epic play that evokes many contemporary themes.