←Recommendations of Hookman

I saw Hookman at Z Space in 2015 and I still think about that production 10 years later. I love this play.

One of my favorites. A great examination of the slasher genre that leans in on existential dread, life, death, and freshman year of college.

Sometimes genre is a straitjacket, but for "Hookman" the crazed slasher motif is a springboard -- to an endlessly surprising mixture of dream logic, urban legend, coming-of-age anxieties, dark deadpan comedy, and blood-drenched grand guignol that's somehow both generationally anchored in contemporary youth culture and timelessly relatable.

I'm not fond of slasher flicks but after loving a production I saw of Yee's "In A Word", my daughter bought me the script of "Hookman". Once I opened it, I couldn't put it down. The young college students' dialogue was more than simplistically believable, it contrasted with the depth of Lexi's complex situation. Yes, there's blood and horror, but also a comic, disturbing view of what young people can go through before facing some of the real horrors of becoming adults.

Lee borrows from slasher flicks (ie. college girl stalked by Boogeyman), so you know you're in for a scary and sick-fun time, but she does it so cleverly to express what she wants to say about grieving. With all its craziness, this play is not removed from reality like so many horror plays and movies. Check this play out at the library, borrow it, produce it. Just perfect for the Halloween season.

I saw the Encore Theater production of this play in San Francisco. There's an interesting fragmented quality to the speech and scene breakdown of this story that feels incredibly accurate to Milennial communication styles. The scenes in the car are excellent.

What an intense ride Lexi takes -- and we're along for every second of it. Lauren Yee's HOOKMAN is a powerful examination of how hard it is for young women to be heard, perhaps especially by themselves. A knockout of a play.

Turns out it's just as easy for teens to dismiss each other as it is for grownups to dismiss teens, but in this well-crafted and highly theatrical play, Yee powerfully proves that beyond teens' seemingly banal chatter, there are big emotions and monsters--real and imagined--to contend with. Yee may have created the genre "existential slasher comedy," but that's okay, because with HOOKMAN, she provides a stellar example to emulate.