←Recommendations of A PICTURE OF TWO BOYS

An honest look at dishonesty, the lies we tell ourselves and others to forge our identities in a world where the truth destroys lives.

Captivating in ease in which these characters speak, brutal in the pain it portrays, and masterful in the use of deep and flawed relationships to tell a story, this play was moving in ways I did not expect. The best part is it all feels natural and lived in. Shared pain and the silence around it becomes such a powerful undercurrent that it makes you reassess every notion you had of these characters. The text is rich and painful and necessary. This play is necessary. Read it. Sit in it. Produce it. Experience it.

Nick Malakhow is fast becoming one of my favorite playwrights. With a sensitive, deft hand, he creates human, complete characters who live real lives and struggle to come to terms with what it is to manage their own existence. Here, Malakhow uses temporal shifts and the deceptive safety of the home town to paint a beautiful picture of Markey and Pete, two boys in a PA steel town dealing with endemic racism and the horrific secret they share. Masterful in its temporal structure, heart-breaking as a character study. Produce this play.

A PICTURE OF TWO BOYS is most beautiful to me in the moments that feel ugliest. It is an important look at trauma, the deep and painful shame that is found when the feelings surrounding a trauma are not the feelings you're "supposed" to have about that experience, and the struggles of friendship when one of the most significant things connecting you may be that trauma. I believe this play will change the lives of young men fortunate enough to play Pete and Markey and young audience members alike.

A complex, lived in, and challenging play that explores childhood trauma and friendships from a sharp edged yet tender perspective. The first half gives very much rustic orange tinted small town summer coming of age vibes, with shots of vodka inducing burns underneath the surface. The second half shows how the effects of shared trauma stunt, discolor, and warp the photographic passage of time. The ending brings the promise of healing in lifelong reconciling and rebuilding. Read this play!

A beautifully rendered portrait of young male friendship and confronting--and healing from--trauma. Deeply affecting, funny, and moving.

After seeing a virtual reading of this extraordinary drama, my jaw was on the floor. Malakhow shepherds us through a childhood journey into adulthood between two young men that is ripe with trauma. He does so with great thought and care, yet trains his lens with such sharp focus that we cannot help but see the full scope of the damage. There is a speech in the second half of the piece that is simply masterful. Beautiful work.

This play is a heartbreaking portrait of two small-town boys with a secret that tears apart their friendship. The well-drawn characters are reminiscent of S.E. Hinton and the slow pacing builds beautifully to the poignant climax. A wonderful play.

This piece is as youthful and tender as it is serious and filled with clouded nostalgia. Nick Malakhow has touched on trauma, sexual assault, social/power structures in small towns, and the formation of gay and bisexual identities in our youth in this beautifully poignant play. As a queer person recommending this, I felt Malakhow's characters to be very authentic and relatable in both dialogue and the lovely performative quirks within the stage directions for the respective roles. Also: the ending of this play gutted me, emotionally! Would love to see this staged!

A delicate and compelling portrait of two young men at significant coming-of-age moments in their lives. Malakhow has such a natural and intuitive feel for the way young men interact with each other verbally and physically and does an excellent job at representing their tentative steps at understanding their place in the world with the complications borne of socioeconomic status and ethnic identity. Their sexual feelings are handled sensitively and honestly. The revelations in the play are surprising but completely organic and well prepared for. Malakhow’s writing continues to impress me.