←Recommendations of Johnny 10 Beers' Daughter

Gorgeous, gorgeous play that uses visual, verbal, and emotional juxtapositions to explore the depths of PTSD, war, and intergenerational trauma and conflict. The echoes of Leila and Johnny's experiences and the ways their experiences depart from one another present a human, nuanced, and intersectional portrait of war. The intimate, subtle conversations between father and daughter speak volumes. Many of the stage images--including the final moments--have stuck with me beyond my initial reading. I hope to see a full production of this!

A heartbreaking and incredibly powerful portrayal of the affects of war and the relationship between a father and daughter. Well done.

This script is one of the more honest depictions of the veteran experience. It’s easy to be distracted by the glamour of heroes in war... “War Heroes”. But there’s the reality of existing as a soldier that never actually goes away. Formby portrays this broken reality beautifully. The characters are fractured memories of the “heroes” we encounter every day. This is a play the needs to be produced- over And over again til the war stops.

A haunting and beautiful piece that addresses war in a way I've never seen discussed. The subtlety and simplicity of the dialogue masterfully captures the hidden depths in the play's father-daughter relationship. A story that stays with me long after reading it.

Dana Lynn Formby uses silence masterfully to fully flesh out the relationship between a father and daughter. JOHNNY 10 BEERS’ DAUGHTER is equal parts ceremony, rage, love, missed communication, and legacy that make for a compelling and heartbreaking story. #PlaywrightPlug

The language in this play stands out and makes it easy to recommend. This moving story of a father daughter relationship is one of the strongest plays about war I've ever read.

Dana constructs moments that we completely embrace and then shatters those realities in the most delicious way. This play melted my heart all three times that I saw the Something Marvelous production of it at Chicago Dramatists in 2017.

This is the story of Layla, a young woman seeking the love and approval of her father, Johnny, a Marine. Layla joins the Marines as "Layla" but returns to her father's fishing hole as "Johnny Ten-Beers' Daughter," irreparably transformed, in some ways the mirror of her father, and in other ways unrecognizable to him.

This play is powerful, gorgeous, and heartbreaking.

Dana Lynn Formby's play is an impactful examination of how war can transform the human psyche. As young Layla follows in the footsteps of her Marine father, a reclusive man whom she idolizes, they bond over Marine Corps culture of shared vocabulary, ritual and experience. Johnny delights in Layla's success as a Marine even as he fears for her safety and soul. This play never lectures or politicizes, it only humanizes. It's heartbreaking, important and perennially relevant, one of those uncommon American tragedies that feels like a classic even though it's brand new.

This play is an absolute knockout- devastating and subtle. It could be a hit nationwide, and it deserves to be. Yes, it has the tiny cast and the topical subject matter, but more importantly it is written like a bomb that will explode in the hearts of your audience.

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Dana Formby and their play Johnny 10 Beers' Daughters 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 the way the deft structure and nuanced, intimate writing combined in this compelling, original examination of the effects of war.