←Recommendations of RED BIKE

I love this play.

I haven't been able to get RED BIKE off my mind since finishing it. All at once it's simple, full of depth and complexity. It's a mesmerizing landscape of poetry, images and memory. The play wrestles with class, change, hope and fear in a visceral way. I found myself feeling deeply alongside the central character, bouncing back and forth between agency and powerlessness. The nature of the text and the versatility of Caridad's writing leaves the piece open to so many possibilities.

I'm so excited for the long, long life ahead of this play.

Transporting. The language packs so much emotion and energy. It captures what it's like to be a kid in a dying town and to think what is the past and what is the future?

I've been a fan of Caridad Svich ever since reading TWELVE OPHELIAS and WRECKAGE for my grad school thesis exploring the use of Ophelia & Medea in contemporary plays. RED BIKE is a completely different type of play, but just as moving and incisive. What carries across all her works is the beautiful, poetic language. In RED BIKE, Svich captures the innocent thrill of young adulthood as it crashes into real-world struggles like poverty, over-work, and the elusive concept of joy. Her flexible casting structure serves the story well & I look forward to seeing several iterations.

Svich sees poetry in the everyday, passion in politics, power in citizenship. In RED BIKE a monologue from the perspective of preadolescent exploring a world in distress (closed businesses, poverty on the street), Svich channels Carson McCullers' Frankie in A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING. Our unnamed protagonist observes astutely, accepts the parameters of her world, feels the possibilities of dreams. Her bike is transportation and a dream mobile carrying her from one viewpoint to another, her magic carpet. "Somebody gotta make red bikes somewhere," she muses, "so kids like me can dream." Dreamscape haunting and gorgeous. [April 6, 2017]

I absolutely love the evocative lyricism of this piece. Svich has managed to beautifully capture the joy and pain of youth, growing up, small town life, and change while creating so many striking images. This play has such a strong point of view, yet also is a bit of a blank canvas onto which the playwright invites actors, directors, and designers to unleash their imaginations. If you’re looking for a bittersweet hit of nostalgia and poetry, give RED BIKE a read!

I love this play about the changing world around us and how those changes are experienced by a person at the intersection of childhood and adulthood. Caridad is a stage poet and Red Bike has a huge amount of heart and plenty of humor. Just like life, it is full of races down steep hills, confusion, joy, and wonder.

RED BIKE by Caridad Svich received a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere. The partnering NNPN Member Theaters were Pygmalion Productions (Salt Lake City, UT), Simpatico Theatre (Philadelphia, PA), Know Theatre of Cincinnati (OH), and The Wilbury Theatre Group (Providence, RI).

Svich takes us on a nostalgic ride through what could be modern-day Detroit. Or maybe any former steel town giant. Or anywhere an 11-year old kid dares to dream Tour de France big. Poetically spare yet lyrically rich, RED BIKE is a play I dearly hope to experience live one day soon. And I may not be the first to say it, but yes... I absolutely envy what she’s created here. Beautifully crafted.

What more can be said about this haunting and absolutely stunning work by playwright extraordinaire Caridad Svich? Poetic beauty? Check. Hypnotic storyline? Double check. Effective and sobering commentary on our western culture at multiple classes? Checkaroo. A moving story from the perspective and wild imaginations of children in danger? Oh my gosh, yes. Why are you reading this recommendation when you can be reading RED BIKE??? Enjoy it. Relish it. See yourself in it. See your family in it. Let yourself wonder what you are doing and what can be done as we watch our culture decaying. Read it now!

RED BIKE is a work of art. It is both an extended allegory and a play that rips so real that you can nearly taste it. It is poetry, but it is dialogue. It is absolutely fascinating and to see this staged would be breathtaking. This play needs to be staged MORE with inventive actors, directors, and designers and then people need to sit and watch it so they can learn and understand and feel and CHANGE. Svich is incredibly brave and her courage flings itself directly into the heart with each page. Highly, highly recommended.