←Recommendations of How To Destroy An American Girl Doll

This play is real, raw, authentic, touching, funny, breathtaking, it's both brutally and hilariously honest, it's remarkable in every way. Produce this play, support this play, uplift it, I'm so grateful for this play.

This play hit me right in the gut. I also laughed a lot, both because the characters are (darkly) funny and because the way they related to each other felt so deeply familiar to me. I want to hug them all.

What we put into our bodies, what we allow and what we reject - this play is a coming of age American tale - a ten year odyssey. I love that it centers female experience. I love that it feels fresh and real. It should be produced often!

A powerful and funny journey through identity, How to Destroy An American Girl Doll, presents two young women thrust into the crucible that is growing up and understanding yourself. Rosenberg doesn't shy away from the real difficulties adolescents face when confronting the reality of themselves and the ways those difficulties can follow us to adulthood. The lens of the play may be an eating disorder, but at its heart the play is a bold exploration of what it means to be a human trying to love and be loved.

This play is powerful, real, and downright funny. It knows when to take the subject matter to the edge and then shake things up with laugh out loud humor. Jan Rosenberg has built a beautifully complicated piece of humanity smack dap in the middle of that grey area most contemporary plays strive hard to get to but usually just miss the mark. There is a darkness to this piece, but the light is bright and spot on as well. A bold, powerful, and incredibly smart choice for any theatre company looking to make a difference.

This play really goes there and we are so lucky that it does. It's a play that explores eating disorder in a brutal and messy way. No easy answers are given here and everything isn't tied up with a bow. The hope in this play is not found in overcoming illness but in identifying it and continuing on. Rosenberg has written brilliant characters in such an honest way. No one is a hero or victim or villain. Everyone is just trying to get through life the best they know how. Produce this play and start listening to those that struggle.

Powerful, haunting - at times darkly funny. I saw the reading of this play at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference - the last play of the week, and what a strong piece to end with. There is a line in the first scene, between two twelve year old girls, one coaching the other about bulimia. One asks: how am I supposed to feel?" after a beat, the other replies "Empty." You could hear the mass exhalation of the audience in the room when that line landed. This play has depth and resonance.