←Recommendations of The Violet Sisters

The plutonic ideal of a two hander. Complex and compelling female characters just ripe to showcase a couple of powerhouse performers. Will rip your heart out in the best way.

Like any Gina Femia play, THE VIOLET SISTERS goes deep, exploring the vulnerabilities and challenges between siblings with shared experiences yet on divergent paths. These characters have really been through it in their lives and we get to see them excavate their pain and find ways to nurture each other in the aftermath of tragedy. It's powerful and moving and so tightly constructed. I loved every minute of it.

I first encountered this play as the guest selector at GPTC in 2016, and this two-character play had deep emotional impact on audiences. I was thrilled to dramaturg it in a virtual reading at New Harmony in 2021, further confirmation of this play's solid storytelling of the complicated way two sisters handle grief differently in the wake of Hurricane Sandy's devastation. There are layers of muddy sediment in the relationship between the sisters, as their traumas resurface. Gina knows this neighborhood and renders it so we don't forget the tough women who survived not just Sandy, but other emotional storms.

THE VIOLET SISTERS by Gina Femia is a play I still think about even though I read it a few years ago. If you want a two-hander with strong female leads, suspense, dynamic characters that actors can really sink their teeth into, realistic dialog, and a play about family, look no further. Highly highly recommend.

This beautiful play tells a dynamic story of two sisters so powerfully in its deeply rooted realism and intensely thrusts us into such a claustrophobic world of the duo at the heart of the story.

Damn. Two handers are hard to pull off and Femia, true to form, does it beautifully. This play is a case study in quiet tension and how to write about disasters (in this case, Hurricane Sandy) in a way that feels so deeply personal. The Violet Sisters is funny and heartbreaking and I really love it!

“A KNOCK OUT. The Violet Sisters is a gripping, moving, and brilliant play. This darkly humorous story of these two sisters and their struggle to find common ground over one stormy night in Brooklyn is a hurricane itself - we are swept away. That the play is still looking for its New York premiere is shocking, but I have little doubt it will find its way into a theater season soon. PRODUCE THIS PLAY. NOW.”

Two extraordinarily well drawn characters, a surging thematic thrust, and a complex yet engaging story make this a delight to read. Hope to see it onstage very soon.

Powerful, relentless, and grimly beautiful, Gina Femia's "The Violet Sisters" captures a soured sibling relationship in all its brutal glory, providing a tour de force for two performers to devour with gusto. Extraordinary.

MonologueBank is proud to recommend the writing of Gina Femia. Her play THE VIOLET SISTERS features some strong monologues, one of which is from the perspective of the character Sam, who has to explain to her sister the circumstances surrounding the death of their father. It is a heartbreaking story that exposes the unimaginable tragedy of his drowning during hurricane Sandy. Written with precise language that parallels the increasing intensity of the situation, one can't help but be swept away by the trauma this woman has faced.