←Recommendations of ALEXANDRIA

A powerful play that is such a gut-punch, especailly in the time we're in and the times we're entering. There is rage, there is compassion, there is acknowledgement that conversations can only take us so far. But most of all there is the essential question of how we will survive our times and our fragmentation--and what, if anything, will survive with us. A necessary play that should be produced all over in 2025

What a devastating, resonant clash of friends and neighbors. The plot gorgeously zooms in on each individual, and then out to the global ramifications, in a way that feels both shocking and inevitable. The final scene will break your heart and glue it together again.

There's much to unpack in this powerful piece. The realistic yet symbolic setting, the meal motif, the well-drawn characters...everything comes into sharp focus as forces pull them from their "decadence on an unprecedented level" and they are left with humanity's "stored knowledge" and fragile, newly won liberties in literal and figurative ruins. Rising up and ultimately winning? Let's hope so. Gatton teaches (without being didactic) and it is a powerful lesson.

A proverbial culture war occurs in the bedrock of civilization in this political drama by Vince Gatton. Dialogue is raw, bold, staggering, witty. Current societal vistas are laid bare regarding religious freedom, marital rights, class privileges, youth's dreams, gender expression, first-world problems, etc. As a resident of Florida, known for being a cultural vacuum (if not void), a great deal of the play rang not only true, but familiar. Reminiscent of the social dramas of Emilio Estevez or Michael Tolkin's THE RAPTURE, the heart bleeds off the page. The central twist is as incendiary as the play's titular historical catastrophe.

Vince Gatton has worked magic with this script. Local yet global. Personal yet universal. Perfectly simple yet devastatingly complex. The characters are so rich they could buy your soul. While building on deep expectations about the setting and the people who reside there, Gatton doea an amazing job defying those expectations.

With just these five vivid and thought-provoking characters, Vince Gatton has shown us the entire world in ALEXANDRIA. Though I just finished reading the play, I immediately want to start again from the beginning and try to find new discoveries. ALEXANDRIA is an exciting page-turner that also has deep humanity; the reader or viewer is kept engaged in the plot and with each individual and unique character.

Jesus. Gatton's "Alexandria" is staggering. Deeply felt, lived, complex, yet earnestly simple at the same time. I can't remember the last time I've read something that floored me so much that I just couldn't even process it. It's taken some time.

We know Brenda. We know Ray. We know all of these characters. We are them. And at the end of the day, we either believe like one of them, or the other. There is no middle ground in love. It is either absolute, or it is a lie. Highly recommended. This play demands production.

It starts so simply, so poetically, a bittersweet naturalistic portrait of contemporary small-town life, a sensitive meditation on politics and faith and friendship. And then, because Vince Gatton is a diabolical genius, a series of breathtakingly terrifying surprises erupt, allowing the dark and monstrous fantasies buried deep in our national subconscious to come erupting to the surface. I won't tell you exactly what sort of an apocalypse you can expect, but I can promise you won't be the same when you come out the other side of it. Read this play. Produce this play. NOW.

Every character in this play tells you exactly who they are, clearly and unapologetically - and they do so through natural, distinct, and thought-provoking dialogue. This is a tightly plotted and structured play that asks a lot of questions that don't have easy answers. It's full of distinct, layered characters who will make you laugh and make you rage. It's full of tension and high stakes, but they are all earned through tremendously subtle hints that accumulate until the play's heartwrenching, utterly visceral conclusion. The is the sort of play that an empathic reader will physically feel in their body.

To be completely honest, the things I like most about this play are things that are best experienced for yourself. And experience it you should. While the swerves are harsh, the way Gatton sets them up are impeccably earned. The story goes into tense, challenging, and often painful territory, yet in a way that faces down the darkness with a hard, thoughtful stare.