We often get plays that look at observant Jews trying to get out of their restrictive community. Lindsay gives us someone with good reasons to want to get in. That’s the kind of new version of an old story that I love.

I read this hilarious play years ago but getting to (finally) see it on the Geffen stage, it has bloomed even further into one of the most beautiful plays I've gotten to experience. The characters' desires run so deep. The dialogue is stunning. The scenes are economic and precise. And the reversals hit hard. The exploration of faith is profound and the (rare) depictions of male friendship are the most tender and moving I've ever seen.

Joelle's characters are so funny, so completely realized and so real. Full of heart and love. The great success of your play is that it taps into the universal through the specific. The specific experience of Zalmy and Shmuel’s devotion to the Rebbe will only be shared by a minority but the obsession of two passionate teenagers, the trials and tribulations of finding yourself in the world, the strains of friendship as new people enter a tightly defined dynamic or when a someone you love begins to change – these are all things an audience can relate to. Excellent work!