←Recommendations of The Way North

I was pulled into this economically written, poetry-kissed story of a retired law enforcement officer with a past who now faces a choice that connects to her personal present and her professional history. I love how THE WAY NORTH advocates for humanity and nuance when it comes to law enforcement, something that seems achingly relevant. The four-actor Minnesota-set play very early on subverts expectations, both in form and content, creating a wintry world that feels deeply theatrical and yet specific. It bursts with ideas of freedom, refuge, strangers in a strange land, migration, doing the right thing, tolerance and love.

This is a beautiful play. Fiercely poetical, it takes one of the biggest issues of our time and, with great skill, carves out the various complicated layers of what it means to be a good person. Highly recommended.

THE WAY NORTH was a finalist for InterAct's inaugural New Play Development Award. Out of a record-breaking 432 submissions, we were struck by this plays' pairing of complicated moral questions--asylum, immigration, duty, and the tensions between legality and justice--with complex, compelling characters.

Tira Palmquist weaves a highly political set of topics into a pure and poetic tapestry. THE WAY NORTH is just flawless, filled with complexity and a powerful set of characters that turn what could very easily be a black and white play into a perfectly shaded masterpiece. A must read, for sure. #PlaywrightPlug

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Tira Palmquist and their play The Way North as a finalist for our 2018 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one of 53 finalists out of more than 1,4200 submissions, the strength of its writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process.

What an great read. This play needs to be staged right now. While most plays about immigration turn into political shout-fests, this writer had crafted a gorgeous, complex and very human play about the impact of social policy and social obligation on real lives. Highly recommend.

Tira writes her characters with deep compassion and understanding, drawing forth full, rich depictions of people who are all at crossroads, and whose pasts haunt the backs of their minds in a way that feels vivid and true. Her writing has the pulse of real conversation, while the monologue sections soar in a low, clear way that had me inhaling and exhaling with the writing. They are gifts for readers as well as actors and (of course) audiences, too.

This is a wonderful play that surprised me, kept me at the edge of my seat at times, had me rooting for the characters, and didn't ever let me get ahead of it. I was thrilled with the language, the beauty, the world of it, the weather, the moral questions posed, and its timely relevance. A pleasure!

Wow. Wow. Wow. I love Tira's work, simply for the delicate way she balances light and dark and infuses her stories with a sense of political urgency (without the soapbox). This play is like a breath of fresh frozen air. It gets to your brain and wakes you up. Not only is this a play you want to curl up with and read to the end in one sitting, it is a play for right now, and to me- that's the reason we write. I'm in love with this work, and I cannot wait to see where it goes.