←Recommendations of People of the Book

I highly recommend this beautifully languaged play for its theatricality, its relevance and its stunning ability to take global problems including colonialism and put them in our downtown public and private spaces. This home-coming of a play is sharp and lush, full of imagery that makes the political intimate. El Guindi gives us a very close look at what it means to be a dominant power and the ugliness of war and capitalist greed. I could not turn away.

Playing with stereotypes with serious intent, this play is an engrossing drama with recognisable characters which takes unexpected turns and works on two levels. The story of a high school nerd who after honourable military service writes a bestseller. But also asking how much a nation’s story, especially a ‘victorious’ nation’s story, is manufactured from literary stereotypes and a nation’s audience consent to, even collude in, a narrative becoming a ‘legal’ history, along with the spoils of war. With equally weighty roles for four actors, People Of The Book is a challenging and always enthralling drama.

I could NOT stop reading this script. Wow - talk about knockout roles for the actors, and a gripping story that kept me reading well past my bedtime. A powerful story, each character with their own intense voice, and the play introduces weighty questions through narrative without it ever feeling heavy-handed. Would love to see this produced!

Extremely powerful and well crafted. Strong characters and a thought-provoking drama that immerses us. Excellent!

This taut drama touches on questions of “truth,” love, lust, loyalty, heroism, post-traumatic stress, and patriotism. It does so with dialog that crackles with energy and dark humor, and complex, conflicted characters. A strong new work by an accomplished playwright.

This play was a SEMIFINALIST for the 2019-2020 In-Progress New Play Reading Series at Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. It is our pleasure to support PEOPLE OF THE BOOK.

Taken literally, El Guindi's play is about deception, professional and personal jealousy, and the effect of American wars in the Middle East. It's a great read, with playful and cutting dialogue, and it is also a metaphor for how American has played itself, chaining our fate to the region. Each of the four central characters reflect a different point of view, about art and writing, the war and its worth, and what responsibility the United States has yet to take for its actions. And each of them had my (shifting) sympathy. Highly recommended!