←Recommendations of SHELTER IN PLACE

Shocking. Compelling. Meaningful. Accurate. Shelter in Place conveys the horror of gun violence in means that others cannot: Enough is enough. Phenomenal work.

The devastating irony that all of the therapeutic measures to help children cope with the world they now live in are being taken away hits home. Well done.

One might imagine the horror and fear rippling effect of experiencing a mass shooting. In short order, Shelter in Place delivers that experience in a simple and compelling way. Carnes is swift and to the point.

This is what it's like. This is what it's like to be in a school and know there's a shooter on campus. This is what it's like to try to hide, to try to protect the students, to try to make the right decisions. This is what the physics of bullets and chemical propulsion do to the body. This is what it's like.

The interaction of the immediacy of being right inside a school shooting and the indifferent facts of what happens when a semi-automatic gun creates havoc inside soft human flesh is only one of the things that makes this play so powerful. There are also the words to the children, "It's okay. Shh;" the emotionless words of the shooter in response to the small child who doesn't want to be there, "Well, you're here"; and the end, which is the beginning, "Shelter in place."

This is a powerful and horrifying and necessary piece. I love how Carnes has a way of going straight to the issue without holding back. We need more plays like this and we need them to be produced when they do come along.

Utterly horrifying, and hard, and necessary. Carnes has pieced together a narrative from many voices, and it will break you. Dazzling and powerful.

Horrific story told from a multitude of viewpoints and with a dazzling velocity. A powerful short play.

Crushing. A powerful piece that is hard to ignore. Galvanizing.

There are plays that will haunt you forever. This one is such a play for me. Extremely poignant to our current society.