←Recommendations of The Orchid

This little play is packed with meaning. Hageman succeeds in avoiding the hysteria over suicide and the tendency to over dramatize this societal problem. She shows the complexity of this issue and how it is dealt with in a friendship. The sparse dialogue adds to the reality.

A powerful piece about suicide and trying to help one through the trauma of it. Excellent.

BEAUTIFUL PLAY! Wonderful work! Hageman really just gets people on so many levels. I hope this play gets produced everywhere cause we all need this play! It's deep and it's cool, and it's a sharp piece of truth. Oh, and there's a great monologue in it too.

The two young men at the center of Emily Hageman's poignant The Orchid struggle to find a meaningful connection in the face of severe trauma. Their internal obstacles are compellingly rendered and the glimmer of hope at the conclusion is heartening and well-earned.

I love Hageman's work for so many reasons including the fact that she just touches on reality with such realism and feeling that you know you are in for something special every time you start in on one of her works. Suicide is such a touch subject to broach, but this play is one of the best I've read on that subject. You are drawn in from the very start and this friendship is so real and such a needed force for both of these characters as much as it is for us reading it.

This play is so sweet without being cloying. Hageman captures young voices beautifully as always and seamlessly blends comedy and drama in this lovely ten minute moment. Check it out!

Emily Hageman manages to craft a sensitive, meaningful short play that says so much in just 11 pages. This is not merely a wake-up call to suicidal teen behavior, it's a wake-up call to more human vulnerability and the extinguishing of toxic male masculinity. It's refreshing to see two straight men at the center of "The Orchid" coming to grips with emotions that are really hard to display- for anybody. Bravo, Emily!

Such a lovely piece, a deep well of feeling, smartly crafted to offer breathtaking range for two young actors. Hageman's dialogue sings, bringing us close to a moment that is so familiar, yet approached with an honesty and emotional distillation, that we very rarely see. So much to admire in this work, that looks at mental health and asks us to explore how our simmering, societal constructs might contribute to the challenges we face. So much, in just a few pages. Wow. Just - Wow.

In the most positive sense of the word, this play is messy. As it examines the literal victims of toxic masculinity, it never relies on platitudes or false solutions. This is a real play that looks at suicide with an appropriate tension between lightness and heaviness, carried by the palpable friendship between Ryan and Jake. The characters are real, the dialogue is subtle, and the emotional impact is intense.

A beautiful and important play about attempted suicide and how painful it is to talk about, but how necessary it is to talk. Hageman has such a gift for getting under the surface of her characters and showing us all the things they wish they could say but can't--just like real life. And the fact that these two characters are teens makes this play feel even more vital and essential. I'm in awe of this playwright's talent.