←Recommendations of The Forest

This painful, beautiful play about loss speaks to the great power of theatre to make us feel complex emotions through fiction. This is partly because Romeo crafts her characters with such love and care, but for me, the genius stroke is to make the stage design (the encroaching forest) represent the chaos of the mind, lifting this play into another realm. Deeply moving.

What a beautiful play, economically structured - each image, character and element adding to a resonant whole. So good.

One of those plays that leaves you breathless and aching (in the best way!). I was immediately struck by the generosity and warmth between Juliet and Pam - though I've read many plays about memory loss, their resigned and often-gracious understanding was a wonderful element I'd never seen depicted before. Romeo also perfectly captures the heaviness of and unsolvable disagreements and differences between the two women. This is a very lived-in relationship that develops into a meaningful and compellingly complicated story about loss - how it entangles, empties, and changes us. And that ending - wow.

Things are changing for a daughter and her mother. Desire emerges and choices are being made from a human place of need and loneliness. Well done.

Romeo is masterful at capturing the ripple effect caused by the behavior of these four characters. We root for them because we know their flaws are ours, we understand their needs at the moment those needs are the greatest and cannot be satisfied, we feel their desperation to hold on to what they believe is owed them. We see the ties that bind us might be what tears us apart, and that losing ourselves in the forest growing up around us can be as much a blessing as a curse. This is an important play that tells all our stories.

The moral ambiguity in this play is fascinating - while you can't condone the characters' behavior, their flaws make them interesting, and Romeo does a great job not letting you write them off completely. It's a beautiful Alzheimer's play and a mid-life crisis play with some beautiful imagery to boot. Check it out!

A simple story, yet brimming with emotion. Every character has a relatable point of view, and the decisions they make, good or bad, are ones we may make if thrust into the situation. This play really explores the human element in its subjects. Highly recommended.

This play made me cry. Lia Romeo profoundly captures desperation and loneliness. It has been a long time since reading a play (or reading anything at all) has triggered such visceral sense memory. Beautiful imagery and endless heart.

A quirky, offbeat, often times hilarious, and human story told with an extraordinarily deft hand, Romeo explores caretaking of various forms and its impacts. The four characters in this piece are vibrantly rendered and nuanced--though they oftentimes skirt around saying what they directly mean, their intentions, actions, and reactions are crystal clear and completely plausible. It is a testament to the writing that, even when the characters do and say eyebrow-raising things, the actions come from a truthful and compelling to watch place. Lastly, the theatrical world crafted here blends sharp realism with just enough whimsy and lyricism. Gorgeous!

One of the most beautifully, elegantly, and effortlessly crafted plays I've read in a while. A quintessential Romeo play but with an extra layer of poetry and heart that made me catch my breath, laugh out loud, and wipe a tear away more than once. An achingly human play that doesn't give you any answers just more questions and yet at the end you find yourself comforted and as if you have truly learned something. And as a man who lost his father to Alzheimer's, Romeo does an impeccable job of capturing the disease with accuracy and understanding. Well done.