←Recommendations of Talking to Myself

This play is a gem. Clever and funny, relatable, like watching two people who know each other, walk a winding road to meet in the middle, past and future, not knowing and reminiscing at the same time. Houg's clever structure creates a dynamic tension, and these characters become immediately likable. As they dance around each other, it feels prismatic, the way life is full of little angles of inflection that might create big change. I'm a big fan of the fluidity of casting. This piece would be just lovely onstage, a highlight in any short play festival.

It's kind of like the unconscious externalized/theatricalized on the page/stage, a fantasy convo with present self and past self -- or is it present self and future self? The story concept for this kind of interaction is an immediate hook, and it impresses upon the reader to examine -- or imagine -- the future, even tomorrow differently than today or yesterday lived unfulfilled in some way. In this way it's not a play about regret or a life sucks pessimism: it is hopeful -- the power of the drama makes this possible. Stage this!

A short play that is flat out huge in scope. I love the flexibility in the casting, and what Houg leaves unsaid between the characters, it creates this wonderful sophistication in the dialogue, and pulls an audience in instead of giving them all the facts. The end left me with a lot of tension, which is impressive, as it's a play that shows the future. Well done.

This fantasy of nostalgia allows us to wander around in the mind of someone asking the same questions we are: 'Will I be happy?'