←Recommendations of Jan Kultura, Substitute Teacher, Meets The Crowd

An absurdist, existential, and unapologetic indictment of late-stage capitalism. I laughed aloud at the quirky characters and sharp wit. The language is delicious, and I'd love to watch actor sink their teeth into these meaty roles. Bravo, Ian!

When off-beat substitute teacher Mr. Kultura first steps in front of today’s assigned charges, it seems like we are being setup for a blood in the water moment with the classroom eating him alive. But instead what we get is Thal and Kultura turning the tables on all of us for a hilarious indictment of corporate crowdsourcing as a component of late stage capitalism. If all lessons on economics were this engaging, we might all have a better understanding of why things are the way they are in the world we live in.

Ian Thal is a thinker. He's also very funny. So when he brings in Mister Kultura --"I like this guy"-- and passes around a do-it-yourself- attendance sheet, I knew immediately I was in for a ride and you will be too. And, most importantly, you'll be "happy, because subjects of King of His Pants are patriots who just want to have fun"! Right?!🤣

This satirical play is clever, sharp, and unapologetically pointed. An engaging piece that knows exactly what it wants to say and has a hell of a time saying it. It’s smart, funny, and absolutely worth sharing with an audience.

This play is the proof that being a Philosophy major is excellent training for playwriting. It got me curious to read a version of the play, where Ian Thal demonstrates through self-absorbed adolescents, a Communist bureaucrat, and a Capitalist substitute teacher why Communism isn't fair either.

AN engaging and unique 15-minute piece: a lesson in the deeply problematic economics of crowdsourcing, wrapped up in a fascinating set of off-kilter characters. This was really fun to read and would make for a production equal parts thought-provoking and manic.

As a writer and a substitute teacher I have much appreciation for this script. Mister Kultura does a good job making the students and the audience think.

While the play focuses on crowdsourcing, it very well could apply directly to the arts as well. (Like, ahem, playwriting.) I love a play that makes you think, and "Kultura" certainly does. It doesn't get preachy, though, and the humorous names of the students heckling their sub makes for some extra fun, while the consultant, Jackie, gives a reductive, propagandistic view of capitalism. This is great writing with a strong rhetorical point -- political, economic, and ultimately existential. Well done!!

An engaging look inside creative economics within the setting of education as we understand the world we are living in. Well done.

An eccentric European substitute teacher is pitted against a siren ad executive and avatar-obsessed students in this characterful and absorbing piece of theatre. A quirky, absurdist, rewarding dramatic analysis of the crowd-sourced-based feudal order threatening to exploit the classroom and high school hearts and minds.