←Recommendations of When I was a Child

Oof, that was tough to think about. Lindsay Partain pens a particularly rough thing to think about, an active shooter around kids, and couches it in an even more horrific scenario; a children's game. It's horrific because kids are being trained to think about this, have to be subjected to this, and have become accepting in their reaction. This is the new norm. A lot to think about in a one minute play.

It's kind of amazing to think about the games we have our children playing. Could anything be more horrific?

This one minute was a complete punch to the gut. Brilliant commentary on how children play in a world where protecting the rights of gun owners is more important than protecting their lives.

Partain's one-minute play "When I was a Child" is extraordinarily well written. It's so taut that the audience infers everything it needs to know about the given circumstances after the first line of dialogue. It's short, yes, but the dialogue, action and characters will stick with audiences long after it ends.

Children act out what they need to figure out. They learn something and turn it into a game. This is all too believable and heart-stopping. It's a game that no child should ever play. It's a game that is probably being played. Include it in a gun-control festival and make the game stop.

What can you say about a play like this? It's so real it hurts -- I'm crying after two pages. Partain has gotten to the vital, trembling heart of the issue here in a profound, disquieting way. Here is a moment that puts everything into sharp focus; here is what has been stolen from children. WHEN I WAS A CHILD should be included in every single production of plays about gun reform.