←Recommendations of The Mermaid Hour

A lovely piece about the complexities of family. I especially loved how in this narrative we were presented with an ostensibly liberal and accepting family whose relationships and equilibrium were challenge by Pilar and Bird's unconscious and (and semi-conscious and conscious) biases. An important reminder that left-leaning politics don't make someone immune from the toxic forces that threaten marginalized communities and identities. Every single person in this piece was a nuanced and fully rendered human, and they kept my sympathy even as they bristled against and challenged one another. Beautiful, funny, poignant, theatrical.

A great play that captures parenthood and how to love your child for who they are. Well done.

This play is just lovely. Yes, it’s about a trans kid, but it’s also about the challenges of parenthood (any kid) and what happens when your kid isn’t the kid you dreamed about, but you love them anyway (loved Bird’s Fenway story). The writing is sometimes just so beautiful—I’ve gone back and reread Vi’s mermaid hour speech several times. There’s so much love and hope here. I hope it gets done again and again.

This play is just lovely. Yes, it’s about a trans kid, but it’s also about the challenges of parenthood (any kid) and what happens when your kid isn’t the kid you dreamed about, but you love them anyway (loved Bird’s Fenway story). The writing is sometimes just so beautiful—I’ve gone back and reread Vi’s mermaid hour speech several times. There’s so much love and hope here. I hope it gets done again and again.

Very interesting and heartwarming play that delves into gender, family and just loving eachother in a beautiful way. I think if you aren't choked up by the ending, you might not have a heart.

Just absolutely wonderful. Fantastic dialogue, beautifully created characters, gorgeous handling of a very challenging subject in a way that is both painfully real and achingly gorgeous. Bird's monologue in the middle about taking his son to a Red Socks game is the kind of writing that can change people. Highly recommended--a sensitive and stunning piece.

This play was featured at National New Play Network's 2016 National Showcase of New Plays. The play also received an NNPN Rolling World Premiere. The partnering NNPN Member Theaters were Borderlands Theater (Tuscon, AZ), Milagro (Portland, OR), Mixed Blood Theatre (Minneapolis, MN), and Actor's Theatre of Charlotte (Charlotte, NC).

This is a beautiful play that captures the modern family dealing with transgender and queer issues through the story of Vi and her parents. The scenes are compact and filled with dramatic tension/action, and each character is human, even when at their worst. David has done a fantastic job bringing us into the struggle of this family. I highly recommend this play.

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend David Valdes Greenwood and their play The Mermaid Hour as a finalist for our 2016 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one of 54 finalists out of more than 1,450 submissions, the strength of its writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process. Our readers especially appreciated that there are no villains in this piece, just complex characters working hard to understand each other.