←Recommendations of it's not a trip it's a journey

Such an inventive, beautiful, and infinitely theatrical play. Charly Evon Simpson has built a glorious use of physical space, movement, and design elements into her script, while leaving room for each individual production team to put their mark on the piece. Simpson's language is straightforward and human while also immensely lyrical. The ending moments are cathartic and cautious and delicate--both giving folks a chance to appreciate the connections between these folks that have deepened throughout, while always reminding us of the external forces, oppressors, and circumstances that have and will continue to stand in their ways.

it's not a trip it's a journey by Charly Evon Simpson was a finalist for NNPN's 2020 National Showcase of New Plays.

A beautiful play about friendship, trauma, letting go and healing as one goes forward in this life. Excellent.

This play is so so good. It takes advantage of the conventions that make the road trip genre so enjoyable, but also serves as a reappraisal of that genre, and an examination of who really feels entitled to move freely around the country. It's very funny, but also has a lot of serious things to say, and these characters feel real and familiar but consistently surprising.

During the Chautauqua Theater Company reading I was moved to tears by this work that dealt with the love amongst Black women and our friendships. How a road trip can bring to light all the things that you try and hide when you don't have anything other than time and a long stretch of road. This piece is heartfelt and full of heart and deftly handles trauma in a way that I found cleansing and healing.

I saw a virtual reading of Simpson's play by Chautauqua Theater Company and even through a computer screen I was moved and emotional. Simpson's writing is poetic and honest. "it was june and I was june" Is a line that will stay with me for a long time. I often feel like plays that deal with trauma pull me apart, but this play seemed to hold me together. Program this play and commission Charly for work, she's exceptional.

This play is a FINALIST for the 2020-2021 In-Progress New Play Reading Series at Unicorn Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. It is our pleasure to support IT'S NOT A TRIP IT'S A JOURNEY.

Compassionate yet distant and filled with moments of confusion and pure clarity, IT’S NOT A TRIP IT’S A JOURNEY allows four wildly different friends to let go of themselves. June, Frankie, Rain, and Willie are allowed to exist for and in spite of themselves and it is in their interactions that they form a bond beyond friendship. It’s beautiful and intimate and so not about the destination that you can’t help but feel comfortable at the end, if not longing for more. #PlaywrightPlug #PlaywrightSpotlight