←Recommendations of #julys

Equal parts hilarious and upsetting, Lahne navigates sharply satirical farce with precision. What is especially compelling here is the haunting theatricalization of the internet, which acts as an effective and creepy chorus. Avram's journey is surprising and affecting, and Lahne manages to mine the emotional twists and turns within him to keep him sympathetic throughout, anchoring the piece with this exploration of adolescent identity and its combined roots in chaos, self-destruction, and a longing to belong. The other characters are expertly and hilariously drawn in the aesthetically coherent world. I'd love to see this onstage.

An excellent capture of the dangerous nature of anonymity on the Internet, the hate that festers based off of conspiracy and then leaks into the real world. Important and well done.

Totally unexpected and surprising - the play deals with internalized antisemitism but does so in a farcical way that both amuses and terrifies. The mixture of reality and the "internets" play off each other beautifully and add an extra level of theatricality.

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Sam Lahne and his play #julys as a finalist for our 2015 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one finalist out of hundreds of submissions, the strength of this play’s writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process.