Eight Nights is a beautifully constructed play delving into longstanding and generational trauma. Though so much comes to mind, so much has already been said in the numerous existing recommendations for this play! This is an extremely theatrical piece that doesn't shy away from difficult conversations, despite the central character's own resistance to having the most difficult one.

The past and how it can haunt a person comes alive in this powerful emotion filled piece. Despite the play being set over a long period of time you are never lost and never do you deter from wanting to see how the stories of these survivors unfold. I love the intimacy of using one room for the entirety of the piece and watching the characters come and go over time but they are never forgotten, you always want to know the next bit of their story. This is a piece of power with very real emotions woven throughout.

Some plays build tension by wrapping their narrative around a concise period of time, but few of them accomplish the feats of scope and lived-in intimacy as Jennifer Maisel manages with EIGHT NIGHTS. Set over over half a century's worth of Hanukkah evenings, this play engages meaningfully with the impact of generational trauma, the persistent fear of all survivors that the nightmare they survived may return again, and the importance -- and difficulty -- of telling one's story. EIGHT NIGHTS is an impressively structured, heartwrenching triumph.