←Recommendations of Joan's Arc

Oh wow. This play about a teenage girl struggling after her best friend dies in a school shooting is so, so good. There's plenty of sadness, but there's also humor as well. I love the way the group text is represented on stage, and Emily Hageman absolutely nails teenage voices. This is a wonderful study on grief and grappling with the discovery that sometimes in this world wrong wins.

A deeply-felt work about the epidemic of school violence, “Joan’s Arc” manages to be beautifully personal and introspective, while also frank and uncompromising in its message. Hageman is incredibly skilled at crafting high school-aged characters that feel real and I was particularly impressed with how essential each one was to the themes and the story and the play’s central questions. A necessarily raw but hopeful piece on grief, memory, and the loss of innocence; one of the best I’ve read about the topic.

Joan's Arc is a phenomenally laid out show that finds the perfect line between humor and tragedy. It tackles a subject incredibly hard and does it justice, but still manages to find a moment to make the reader laugh without being insensitive and also finds the beats that have you feeling all types of emotions. Beautifully made.

This is a play follows the story of a teenage girl trying to grieve and move on with her life after a school shooting. This play is about healing and growing. I absolutely loved the symbolism of the broken door and that it stays on stage the entire time. This play is so powerful, and I would love to see it played out on stage someday.

A hard to tackle subject done well! This play really shows the playwright's strengths and allows for deep connection with each character and between each character.

This play is so powerful. It kept my attention the entire duration of the script and hit my heart heavy. The characters are so strong and provide you with a realistic idea of what these teenagers are truly dealing with. At the end of the play it left me with only one word in my mouth... WOW!

Joan's Arc kept me interested during the entire script. There were so many emotional connections for me while reading. The connections between the characters were wonderfully shown and strong in their own ways with each character. The idea of the shattered door in the beginning as well was incredible and stood out to me during the rest of the script. Emily Hageman did an outstanding job with this piece and I hope someday to see this professionally done.

Joan's Arc is flooded with emotion causing the readers eyes to fill with tears as they follow Joan on her journey of grief. Rather than focusing on the shooting at the school, Emily Hageman focusing on the effect it has on the characters. The journey they go on as they struggle to find the piece of them that was taken away. This play finds a way to showcase every struggle the characters face as they try to put their shattered souls back together. Brilliant play!

Wow. Had to take a break at the end of act 1 so I could calm myself down. And of course, at the end of act 2, tears are flowing again. This is such a great play because it doesn't focus on the actual school shooting...the "why did this happen?" This is about living, living as a whole, imperfect human being. Doing your best to be better. This is so beautiful and I hope it gets produced a million times because more people need to see/hear these words.

Hageman again wins as she enters the hearts and minds of teenagers. The use of voices from the dead vividly depict the bloody effects of school shootings. A message emerges from the mayhem and should resonate with any caring person. The dialogue is well-worth the effort as it gives a voice to the unspeakable effects these shootings have on the impressionable. Students are never ready for this violence. Please produce this and, ultimately soothe the grieving.