←Recommendations of ACCOMMODATION

A stunning play that examines our modern educational system from all sides while somehow managing to do it without taking sides. The dialog is at a galloping pace and the script practically sizzles. Tense, taut, complex, and thoroughly engrossing. You'll find yourself compelled to flip the page to find out what is going to happen next. Highly recommend!

This is an eye-opener of a play into a subject not addressed much in theatre: how we educate our young people. Through the lens of a teacher in severe burnout, the flaws of how we not only fail our students, but our educators as well is laid bare. Yes, it's infuriating. It's also bitingly funny, poignant, and you find yourself at odds about who is the villain (is there one?) and who is the hero (is there one?). This play will spawn many debates and let you look at our system with new eyes.

At times funny, at times infuriating, but always thought provoking “Accomodation” is an intelligent, fast-paced debate on the flaws of the educational system. Burdick's play is made even more complex by the fact that every character believes they are doing the right thing. But what really hits the mark about this script is the depth of the characters revealed over time – The teacher and student share parallel struggles, but also endearing strengths. That emotional core makes the play even more resonant and provocative. I can only imagine the post show talkback after this play.

This play hits home and hard, laying bare all that's frustrating and complicated about our current education system. No matter how you feel about it, you'll recognize the unflinching truth put forth in this play and debate solutions over your post-show beverages.

You will feel so many different emotions going through this play. Greg Burdick creates for the reader a gripping drama that holds you and does not let go in its explosion of raw emotion and critique of the American educational system. You feel the passion of a teacher on every page. You feel the struggle against bureaucracy a teacher has to contend with. You feel and you feel and you feel until you realize that the play has ended. This play is a call to action. It's needed and should be read by as many people as possible.

This was my second time reading this play, and I am so glad that I did. Burdick provides such an innovative window into the complexities of an educational environment, the way the political intricacies and delicate mechanical balance can all fall apart, like a house of cards. Populated with compelling, richly-drawn characters, this story would be at-home and understood in communities across the country. We all know these teachers and administrators. And we know this kid.

After seeing ACCOMMODATION read by Ignition Arts, my mind was absolutely buzzing with questions, none of which have easy answers. Burdick has done a beautiful job starting a conversation about the way our education system overlooks individual human beings-- students and teachers!-- for the sake of appearances and test scores. This play is deliciously infuriating and thought-provoking, and of interest to anyone who has recently encountered the education system in any way!

I love reading a play that makes me think - makes me wonder what side of the issue the playwright is on. Burdick has created just that. ACCOMMODATION incorporates characters with strong opposing viewpoints and pits them against each other without judging any of them. It'll make you think, make you question, and it might just lead to better conversations about what matters in education today.

Michael is a student in need of extra help-one of many students. Celeste Dawkins is a teacher at the end of her rope, drowning trying to keep up. Worlds collide, and no one is left for the better, but maybe they come to a better understanding? This was not an easy play to read, but it is a very good play to read. Burdick's dialog crackles and the creative and imaginative shifts all make for a play that explores why teachers and students are often at odds. Read this play.

Wow. This play hurts. Any educator who reads or sees this play will be profoundly moved by it because it's so real. The play starts off with a bang, and doesn't slow down from there. The characters are deeply complicated--Celeste Dawkins may be one of my favorite protagonists I've ever read in awhile--and there are no easy answers. The themes of this piece--the extra time, the dealing with disability, the impossibility of trying to succeed in a career where no one cares if you do... this play hurt in the best way. Thank you, Burdick, from one teacher to another.