←Recommendations of The Thought Doesn't Count

Emily Hageman writes about a tragedy in the most heart-breaking of ways. She sets us up with two characters and lets us get to know them in the best of ways, laughing and joking and letting us see how they love one another. Then the afore-mentioned tragedy comes out and she shows us why theyARE in love with each other. They help each other weather the storm their lives are currently experiencing (with the help of a sock monkey, of course). Sad and uplifting at the same time, this is a wonderful tale of love and loss and love again.

One of the best stories I’ve ever experienced about a healthy marriage weathering a crisis. Tragedy has struck, so Rebecca and Tim do what humans do: make jokes, play with a sock monkey, and avoid the subject even while confronting it because avoiding it IS how they confront it.

Hageman wisely shows how even the best marriages have limitations especially when it comes to communication and reciprocity of need. There’s an imbalance occurring and, as much as they love one another, Rebecca and Tim can’t help each other. Yet.

Also, Hageman writes the best dad jokes.

Gorgeous, moving, and brave play about grief and love that anyone can relate to. Highly recommend!

This play is a brilliant and human show of life, love, and loss. The smiles and jokes painting feigned happiness over tragedy makes the pain even harder to swallow. A true piece of life.

Hageman's charming comedy makes the pain in this play that much more of a punch in the gut. This play is about trying to smile through tears, and that is just what I found myself doing as a reader. It's a treasure.

A tragic yet heartwarming tale of loss and love. Hageman hits where it counts in just a few minutes, making us truly feel for the characters, craving for their happiness. And even after the gut wrenches, I can't help but smile at the ending.

This play has a lot of recommendations, and for good reason, it hits an honest emotional core. Highly recommend.

Touching and genuine. An intimate and gentle portrait of a couple navigating grief. Emily creates a realistic moment that is both heart breaking and sweet, and adds touches of humor in the right places. Well done!

Happy to add my own recommendation to the many already. Taking a seemingly unpromising prop as a catalyst for communication, Emily creates a powerful arc where the couple's loss but ultimately their love for each other is revealed only as the play goes forward.

Such a sensitive and moving way to address a difficult and painful situation. Been there, appreciate this.

I'm not sure what else I can say that hasn't already been said! I was the stage direction reader for this play at the Midwest Dramatist Conference 2017 and it was my absolute favorite piece of the whole conference. The characters felt real. Their pain, their love, their rapport, all so relatable and recognizable. I never realized a ten minute play could be so powerful.