What is so impressive about this very short play is that it’s the tip of a fascinating iceberg. The foreboding details we get from the conversation in SMOKE BREAK by Zack Peercy - like so much in life - are clues to a mystery we won’t begin to comprehend. I admire the character Dan for his imagination and resolve and his relinquishing the smoke. Funny, truthful - this play makes you wish for more of Travis and Dan talking.

This year I have been trying hard to zone in on the moments I write about and get rid of the excess and it's plays like Smoke Break that really teach me how to do that perfectly. Peercy's perfect little moment has a lot of punch and I am intrigued by these two men as much as I am drawn into their crazy world in just those brief seconds.

This piece is brief, but effective. It always amazes me, as an eternal student of the craft, when a playwright is able to take a small moment and pack so much meaning into it. This moment between two friends gives the audience just enough of a story, while establishing a relationship between the two via naturalistic dialogue. We also are asked interesting, lingering questions about faith and its relationship to Biblical text. This is what strong short theatre is: giving us so much through a moment, which is a special, special talent.