←Recommendations of Small Jokes About Monsters

Genre

comedy,

dark comedy,

drama

Subject Matter Keywords

addiction,

family,

death

Length

60-90 minutes

Cast Size

Age of Intended Audience

ages 14-17,

ages 18 and up

Narrative Attributes

Centers Female Characters,

Centers LGBTQ Characters

Reviews

Houston Chronicle

“
...its central charcater, Ryan, is a singular creation. Just listen to the way he talks, the words he picks like bullets from a belt. His style of speech is loose and mordant, his jokes peppered with piercing truths that betray a wounded man underneath.
”
Houston Press

“
Strafford also wisely layers up on the trauma he bestows on the boys, taking the climax from stock chestnut to something far more disturbingly complicated.
”
Chicago Reader

“
Ryan, the bright, witty, psychologically damaged protagonist of Steven Strafford’s dark domestic comedy begins the play by dividing all comedians into three types...and part of the beauty of Strafford’s sly, well-crafted play lies in how this metaphor plays out over the course of its 90 minutes
”
Chicago Tribune

“
Life teaches us that the funniest people we know often have been through the most personal trauma… Laughter can be the only coping mechanism available… an uncommonly raw and moving exploration of that intersection: it is a sweet-and-sour meditation on whether or not it’s healthy to laugh at really terrible
”