←Recommendations of Monsters Are Made

Monsters are Made is a tour de force. Hannah has crafted such a visual and textual roller-coaster of storytelling, in a story that we may have seen or heard before, but never experienced like this. Her language is visceral pain mixed with delightful, intimate relief. Balancing these two dichotomies is so difficult, but Hannah nails it. She captures an over-looming dread with balance, humanity, and theatrical magic. The characters are so nuanced it's beautiful. I demand to see this play produced. It's incredible!

This is an uncompromising and wrenching piece that explores aspects of the aftermath of sexual assault that I haven't really seen examined onstage. Both Ricki and Hunter are exquisitely human characters, and I love how they are put in this heightened theatrical world. Through Ricki, Langley articulates the complex brutality and reality of being assaulted by a friend. In the misguided Hunter, she shows how an acquaintance assailant asking for forgiveness on his own terms can so easily be just another form of attempted control, domination, and trauma. It would be harrowing but powerful to see this onstage.

This play is somehow relentlessly provocative, but also deeply empathetic. Ricki is pushed to her limits, showing us the immense challenges stacked up against her, as well as the strength and resourcefulness. Hunter is humanized, but not excused, adding complexity to this issue without detracting from its horror. The tension Hannah builds is so engaging that the play flies by, despite its difficult subject. It is also SO politically and socially urgent I cannot believe it hasn't been produced yet.

Langley has written a powerful captivating two-hander that stays with you long after you’ve put the script down. With this play, Langley dives headfirst into the darkness and poses impossibly difficult questions. Can someone make things right after he’s committed an unspeakable wrong? Or are some acts just unforgivable? Monsters Are Made is an extremely relevant conversation starter. Bold. Thought provoking. Theatres, produce this play.

A powerful and bold, unexpected exploration of the psychological and sociological complexities of rape and its aftermath. There are no easy answers here. Ricki’s steadfast deflection of Hunter’s self-loathing and desire to be punished pushes him to recognize what a path toward justice would mean—and what he must sacrifice. He naively thinks he can be released through some hardcore role play, but boy is he wrong! Flipping the power dynamic isn’t just something you can pretend at, nor is culpability a private matter.

I've rarely been more tense in a theatre than while watching Hannah's wonderful play. There were times when I literally had to clench the sides of my seat to keep from jolting up and trying to stop a character from taking an action. Hannah is deft at creating humans who are intrinsically drawn towards each other in the most explosive ways. I was left wrestling with my own thoughts about forgiveness and repentance after watching this play - and that's what great theatre should do.

I really enjoyed reading Monsters Are Made because in addition to the wonderful theatricality, the story feels very real, and very now. This play brings up a timely and important conversation about white male privilege and consent without hitting you on the head too much with it. Obviously inspired by the Brock Turner Court Case (a rapist who used to be a star swimmer) Monsters Are Made opens a dialogue on consent and toxic masculinity, which poses the question: Why are men being educated in a way where they believe actions like this are acceptable?

I. Love. This. Play.
Please, please support it, we need this play RIGHT NOW. I'm so grateful that Hannah has written this story. Great characters, tight story, I can't wait to see where it goes.

When a horrific act is perpetrated is forgiveness possible? Is reconciliation possible? Is true justice possible? These questions and so many more are asked in this thrilling two hander set in a world where time and the laws of physics are in flux. It's a play for the #MeToo era that I believe will last. Picking up the pieces and making sense of things when ultimate betrayal comes from loved ones will never not be a human issue. I'm just glad there are plays like this one that brings it to the light and makes us face it head on.

"You know you're a rapist but you don't even know what rape means." To what extent should we understand the assailant, the rapist? What do you do with a perpetrator who demands his own punishment, when doing so is merely another form of control, dominance, and presence?

This is a strong two-hander, currently in development, one that poses difficult questions, with violence and humor, but openly searching for a true and honest path to justice and redemption.