←Recommendations of Dust

Youth, power, violence, gender, sexuality: Danielle Mohlman weaves these themes into a poetic fugue. Dust intertwines voice and movement alongside the narrative of a school shooting, making it as beautiful as it is timely. A powerful, boldly theatrical, haunting play that arrives at the perfect time.

Danielle writes movingly about loss and being lost. The boys of Barrie’s 19th century adventure stories become the girls of a 21st century tragedy—the victims of a school massacre.

Danielle weaves the voices of these lost girls into polyphonic spoken-word collages that mirror the non-stop, social media landscapes we all navigate. We see the pressures to succeed, academically and socially, and how momentary decisions can have lasting, even permanent consequences. Captain Hook and Peter Pan might not be all that different. Heroes and villains are, after all, just people willing to do what the rest of us fear.

Danielle Mohlman is the rare writer who knows how to both embrace and elevate the theatrical medium. With DUST, she’s created a virtuosic score of poetry, movement, imagery, and characterization that -- in addition to being a director's dream piece -- is a fresh point of view on this difficult, painful, and timely subject matter. DUST is a chilling, freaky acid-trip of poetic horror that needs to be seen.

Danielle's writing is like music in the way that it escalates, building to a cacophony and still finding pockets of stillness. She tackles brutality with delicate language, allowing the play to breathe in a way that is frighteningly beautiful. We workshopped Dust at the 2016 Sewanee Writers' Conference, and it was a delight to spend time with this piece, and with Danielle. Dust is a haunting play that should find its way to a stage. If you have a few hours, and a nightlight- dive in.