←Recommendations of The Thought Doesn't Count

Another emotional journey from Hageman who gives her characters such depth in such a short space. This play packs a wollop and leaves such a lump in the throat but I like that love and determination win out in the end

A short play that packs a powerful emotional punch while also providing some genuine laughs! Loved seeing this play, and yes, I cried.

Hageman does a great thing here - why there are so many recommendations for this play - because it's one of those plays that everyone needs, a play that shows us by virtue of its doing it the thing we all need to know how to do. Such a gift! Why isn't this anthologized and produced constantly? I am clueless. WHY?

A truly beautiful piece. Incredibly touching and funny. Hageman has created two real and genuine characters that would be a joy for any two actors to portray. Would love to see this on stage.

"The Thought Doesn't Count" is a legitimately marvelous script that actors will love to play, that audiences will love to watch and hear.

The laughs are genuine -- including bawdy ones at the start (the line about hurricanes is a killer) -- the dread through miscommunication is genuine, and the gut punch of reality and realization hurts. And somehow Emily Hageman is also able to bring the characters through guilt and self-loathing to a kind of grace and at least recognition, if not happiness, because she loves them enough to provide a complete journey.

Produce this play.

A moving play about a still too rarely spoken of topic, by turns heartbreaking and subtly hilarious. Hageman's characters convey so much in what they leave unsaid, and in the places where they almost, but don't *quite* connect, until the glorious moment when they do, finally allowing themselves to be fully vulnerable and present with each other. Not only a wonderful work of theater, but also a not half bad guide for functional communication in relationships.

I saw a reading of this play at the Midwest Dramatists Conference and connected with how realistic and modern the dialogue and situation felt . Emily manages to bring humor into a subject that is not often talked about publicly, and that feels like a smart move in order to really hit the audience emotionally with the real crux of the play, while also giving them a lot of room to laugh. I definitely look forward to getting acquainted with more of her work!

This is another really accomplished piece I caught at the Midwest Dramatists Conference, and I'm still struck by how Emily Hageman creates smart, sophisticated people who seem to know everything except how to deal with their loss. The wife and husband in this short play are witty, intelligent -- and hurting. You'll feel their love, their confusion, and their pain. And I believe you, like me, will be glad you did.

I saw a reading of this play at the 2018 Midwest Dramatists Conference and was so impressed and moved by it. The play is painful, beautiful, funny, full of truth. Hageman creates living, breathing characters going through a crisis, artfully giving them both space and intimacy, and it just all felt very real. Really lovely work.

How I love Emily Hageman's work. Hard to believe anyone can write a play with a sock monkey and make it anything more than a joke, but Hageman has used the prompt to write a beautiful play about a couple's unspoken grief. So much happens in just a few pages thanks to the skill of the playwright. Audiences will be moved and absorbed by this play, as I was.