←Recommendations of What's Wrong With You

A real look inside the experience of being a teen in a social media culture with a plethora of struggles. Well done.

I love smart play scripts about modern teenagers so much. I love them even more when they feature drop dead, whip-smart dialogue while also communicating deeply felt character and emotion.

Rosenberg’s story of a Gen Z cohort who engage in outrageous dares, faking injuries for social media, is thrilling, moving, and very, very real. There is an almost complete absence of adults, highlighting the extent to which these kids have been made to be self-reliant, but also the chilling degree to which they are on their own to manage their many emotional challenges. Highly recommended!

There are very few plays I’ve that captures the confusion and pain of being a teenager as well as this one. Yes these are children but Rosenberg forces us to take them and their problems deadly serious and sit with them through it. Excellent use of multiple forms of media and I’m excited to see this fully realized with projection design I hope this play gets in the hands of young people and they’ll know someone sees their struggles and thinks they deserve to be heard.

Jan Rosenberg has a knack for writing young people who feel vulnerable and in pain, but who construct walls and other obstacles to preventing that pain from overtaking them. Mae is a bold and vividly-rendered character and, from the moment she first meets Caden, I became intrigued by their arc and had to see it to its conclusion. What is most impressive here is how Rosenberg grapples with big and "scary" themes--depression, self-harm, suicide, mental health, family crises--with what I've come to see as her trademark balance of humor and sensitivity. The end is poignant, surprising, and hopeful...

The snappy dialogue, sharp wit, and specific characters immediately drew me into this powerful play. I particularly love how early in the work Rosenberg gives us subtle glimpses of the vulnerabilities and broken psyches behind the bravado of these characters. We feel with them as they unravel and are completely there until the thrilling climax. Shattering commentary on celebrity and selfie culture.