←Recommendations of A Real Boy

A Real Boy is a beautifully theatrical piece about family, diversity and the choices of children that jumps off the page and into your heart. This show is a director's, puppeteer's and designer's dream all in one!

Diversity and acceptance are topics that we are *finally* beginning to have real conversations about, and Kaplan's "A Real Boy" is a wonderfully artistic addition to those conversations. It's funny and heartfelt. And there are puppets!

A super compelling and original satire that examines parenting, the school/teacher/parent relationship continuum, acceptance of difference and unconventional families, and much more. The use of puppets and puppeteers is bold and exciting, and it would be a treat to see it realized onstage. The extended metaphorical connection to LGBTQ families or other "outside the norm" family dynamics was brilliantly executed. Funny, poignant, and unique.

A brilliant play about raising a child in a world of puppet strings and learning to teach that child to tie the strings himself and let go. Fantastic!

This play should be high up on your reading list for production. As a society, we are having conversations about what it means to be accepted and really welcomed, not just tolerated. Kaplan uses the puppet metaphors to challenge us about our own ability to be inclusive and diverse. This work breaks it down for us and turns the mirror on the audience who will l leave this production, unsure of our own assumptions about people who are not like us.

A play in which the metaphor is the meaning, Stephen Kaplan’s “A Real Boy” stuns with its inventive theatricality, its well-placed humor, and particularly with its depth of feeling. A beautifully written, provocative, and haunting work of art.

A brilliant play and spell binding play. Kaplan creates a world using humor and driving dialog that pulls you in and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Stephen Kaplan has written a wonderfully imaginative, witty, and poignant story that is a parable about how significant adults who are responsible for child-rearing can usurp each others' responsibilities, claiming the legal right to do so. Stephen's use of puppets heightens his stab at just whose narrow-minded self-righteousness makes puppets out of whom. This is a well-written script that not only tells a story of what ultimately impacts a child's self-image, but it also makes the reader and audience ask questions of themselves that demand honest answers.

Where exactly is the boundary, regarding the responsibility for raising children, between parents and public schools? Who should be pulling the strings, and what are the consequences for those who end up being manipulated? Kaplan’s imaginitive glimpse into this unique world will challenge actors, technicians, and audiences alike. Thoughtful, meaningful (and necessary!) incorporation of puppetry transports us well beyond Punch and Judy... Kaplan delivers spectacle, but it’s carefully connected to themes that make this play so much more. If you’re a parent, or a teacher, you’ll never look at either job the same way again.

With sensitivity and sharp humor, Kaplan creates a fully-realized world — where two puppets are parents to a non-puppet kindergartener — in this play that explores the bounds of fitting in. Kaplan packs each character with terrific inventory and makes this fantastic voyage seem so real — And so relevant. Exquisite descriptions of puppet gesture and movement evoke a deep empathy — A brilliant choice. I long to see a production — With puppets baking, puppets doing dishes, puppets tangling with bureaucracy — The show also features a rare commodity: A contemporary, fully-developed character for a child actor. Bravo!