←Recommendations of Closing Doors

I produced an audio version of this play on the GATHER BY THE GHOST LIGHT radio theater podcast. You become immediately invested in this well-crafted play by John Minigan right from the beginning and he maintains the conflict all the way to the end. Both the teacher and the vice principal state their positions well, and then the low blows come into play that challenges their friendship. A great tidy piece for any theatre looking for a topical short play!

This relevant piece written by John Minigan is sure to spark discussion morals and friendships and doing the right thing during adverse situations. Tense and insightful, it leaves you on the edge of your seat and makes one think.

An engrossing and all-too-relevant play. Beyond the obvious relevance to the current rash of school shooting incidents, the piece poses tough questions of ethics and values and how to do the right thing in the worst circumstances. It's a tribute to Minigan's skill that the play feels resolved without offering easy answers to the questions.

John Minigan's play is an exceptional short drama that will resonate with teachers, students, and parents alike. Gripping!

It is true: whenever I read a John Minigan play I fall in love with his writing again. CLOSING DOORS has a motor in it that will keep you shaking. There is no answer in this superbly written play. How we save our children in active-shooter drills will never be fail safe - But we have to keep trying so long as we allow guns freely in our country. Well done!

What a powerful play this is. Fast-paced, engaging, and heartbreaking, in nine pages it shows what America's culture of gun violence is doing to teachers and administrators better than any speech could.

What an impossible situation these characters are in and what a realistic dialogue driven piece. This should be performed in some collegiate senior juries...

Bloody hell, what a world we live in that this is an entirely plausible drama that could be playing out in schools all across America. Minigan does an excellent job of taking a societal issue and making it personal, with sharp dialogue, high stakes, and deeply emotional and practical consequences for his characters. I say this as highest praise: this play made me feel sick to my stomach. Also: great title. Well done.

Minigan explores the horrors of school shootings through bureaucracy and the impossible roles teachers are expected to play. It's horrifying to think that conversations like this one probably happen in our country regularly. A chilling ten-minute that cuts past the debate of should-we or shouldn't-we have guns and examines the position our inaction puts schools.

This is such a scary concept that parents, teachers and students have to live with every day. Yes, rules are in place to ensure the greatest number of students are safe and secure. But good teachers see their students as more than just numbers/statistics. And the people in charge of the schools have no choice but to see them as numbers/statistics. And this play hovers in that grey area. We wish we had answers. Instead, we just get rules.