←Recommendations of Why Birds Fly

The playwright upends genre conventions in this dark meld of a domestic drama and horror storytelling, and both work together beautifully. At turns tragic and funny, it moves briskly, hits hard, and leaves an impression that lingers far after you've put the script down and left the theatre.

A compelling two hander with extraordinary poignant language and emotional punch. This is timeless, poetic and can work in any space. Goldman-Sherman is an international writer of huge importance.

Should we discover the means, I would love nothing more than to condense this play into liquid form and inject it directly into my veins. Goldman-Sherman has crafted a mythic explosion that is enchanting and visually-striking, creepy and keening, rooted in survival and the stretch of the patriarchy even after the world’s end. The playground of a setting lifts inspiration from Beckett’s tramps, but blessedly gives women the spotlight for once, locked in a struggle for freedom and safety. A staggering piece of work that 100 words does not give me enough space to sing its brilliance. Highly recommend.

Dark and foreboding and unsettling but light as a feather. Makes you want to weather the storm, no matter the cost.

An awesome fabulistic piece that feels like aesthetic kin to Fornes and Beckett and the Greeks in some ways, but I say that not to in any way call it derivative--on the contrary, this theatrical world is wholly original, jarring, yet cohesive. Goldman-Sherman uses this unsettling theatrical reality to examine motherhood, patriarchy, survival, and the ways patriarchy pits women against one another. It strikes me as a piece that a production team can really leave their unique imprint on even though as written it is already such a specifically drawn and well-defined reality.

This play is a FINALIST for the 2020-2021 In-Progress New Play Reading Series at Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. It is our pleasure to support WHY BIRDS FLY.

If Samuel Beckett wrote an allegory about motherhood, it would be similar to "Why Birds Fly." If you are patient and have an open mind this is a very rewarding allegory that touches on many topics, from liberation to religion to family and death. Starts slow but ends with incredible poignancy and power.

Brilliant work. Expertly crafted, we explore the relationship between two women and the secret that lies beneath. The structure allows for so much play and experimentation, physicality and movement. An enrapturing horror / tragedy that keeps you hooked from start to finish. Wow. Extraordinary!

The play opens on a domestic wasteland where we behold a vision of American ruins as collapsed and littered brand names, where the post-material world is more lucidly defined than the post-human one. Two women who may or may not be related exchange their anonymity for roles in a game that manages to become more absurd the closer it approximates the quotidian. As comical as it is frightening, as disorienting as it is instantly recognizable. There is something of Beckett, something of Shepard, something of Kane and Marsha Norman, and something we haven't quite seen before. Must-read/see!

I read this because I wanted to know what Goldman-Sherman could do on her own. With no religious, aesthetical, or topical framework, and the mention of Beckett doesn't necessarily suggest something polemical. She is clearly a deft architect and keen delineator. I wanted to know what she was capable of "by herself," whatever influences aside. I was, quite bluntly, floored. Creating a mythos is no joke. Goldman-Sherman has here probably the most primal play about women I've ever read. What do I know about the primordial state of women? Nothing. I'd like to think this.