←Recommendations of Some Specter

A very clever and surprising twist on the classic "young sleuths solving mysteries" trope. Adams takes us on a fantastic journey, surprising us along the way with dimensional characters, complex relationships and deeply heartfelt emotions. That's a lot to ask from a ten minute play, and a delightful revelation in what, at first, appears to be a light Hardy Boys/Scooby Doo style mystery!

I love so many things about this short piece! I love how it plays with the Scooby Doo/Hardy Boys of it all. I love that the revealed "big bad" receives some grace and understanding at the end. I love the world-building of a strange little town where ordinary citizens seem to regularly dress up like monsters. Most of all I love how Adams weaves in a story of grief and forgiveness without losing touch with the inherent humor of the premise. And all packed into a compact 10 pages!

John Adams has a wonderful ability to take a well-known setting -- in this case, Scooby Doo -- and turn it into a coming-of-age play where we see the two youthful sleuths realize that life is more than just a Saturday morning animated adventure. Ben and Gabriel emerge as more than cartoon characters, and in their hunt for monsters in rural Kansas, and when real life intrudes, they learn to face it as adults, not without a few true moments of introspection, and beautifully told.

A wonderful meditation on grief and how we all cope with loss through the lens of the mystery genre that produced Scooby Doo and the Hardy Boys. John Adams infuses the real-world cynicism of that familiar formula of catching investment bankers masquerading as ghosts, but loses none of the earnestness and heart of the genre its inspired from. The result is a mystery within the mystery where solving the puzzle may actually lead to a way forward after untimely loss.

A truly incredible mixture of comedy/parody and a heartfelt narrative that leaves you laughing as much as crying. A really wonderful short play touching on the themes of friendship, queerness, and loss.

I want everyone I know to read and see this play! John Adams has managed to skillfully craft a very funny parody piece (Scooby Doo/Hardy Boys/Encyclopedia Brown) that contains a deeper, touching story about friendship and loss. Big love and recommendations for this play!

John Adams is a brilliant comic writer, and SOME SPECTER had the audience laughing with riproarious abandon at the reading I saw at the 2022 Inge Festival. But Adams’s greater gift may lie in his rare talent for blending the comic with the heartfelt. This short piece, though ostensibly parody, is so honest in its portrayal of our human need for connection that the comedy almost becomes secondary. SOME SPECTER should be read, produced, and celebrated.

Adams pulls off the high wire act of mixing a parody of boy detectives with a moving meditation on grief and loss. This is a rich, complex, engaging ten minute piece.

This is a touching and hilarious play that I saw at the 2022 Inge festival. It had the entire audience entranced. John is a master at blending both the funny and the heartbreaking in these 10 minutes. Masterfully done.

I can give no higher praise than to say I wish I had thought to write this play! I had the great pleasure of seeing a reading of Some Specter at the 2022 William Inge Theatre Festival Playlab. Equal parts laugh-out loud comedy and a serious depiction of survivor's guilt - not an easy task, but playwright John Adams pulls off the feat with great craft and love for his characters. I would happily sit through an extended series of Ben's Sleuths. Would love to see this produced!!