←Recommendations of Tin Noses

Bowden uses the "play-within-a-play" device to examine disability on multiple fronts: What does it mean to be disabled "enough?" How do you show your strength to someone who underestimates you based on your disability? Why are so few disabled storytellers given opportunities to their own stories? It's fun, romantic, and a wholly unique love triangle.

An engaging concept with a fresh twist on the play-within-a-play trope. These characters are -very- frustrating, which I find refreshing -- and the depth of my frustration with them indicates the depth of my engagement with them. This show poses some wonderful challenges for an artistic team. And thank all goodness for a complex, romantic role for an actor with a disability: a role there are far, far too few of.

A staged reading of this play was part of the 2017 Chicago Theatre Marathon, and boy are we glad it was. The theme of that year's incubator was "I Am Indomitable," and this play and these characters definitely fit the bill! If you're at all interested in how theatres & Hollywood portray disability, do yourself a favor and try this play on for size.

Tin Noses delightfully utilizes the "play-within-a-play" tradition to create two worlds for the audience. In so doing, it comments on how acclaim often goes to able-bodied actors playing disabled characters. The conceit also provides humor, surprise, and, through watching characters play other characters, opportunities for clever subtext to shine through. Bowden does a wonderful job finding a way to intersect superheroes, prestige projects, and disability, all with a deft and comic touch. The play also offers an all-too-rare opportunity to cast a disabled actor.