←Recommendations of Janie Wants A Dog

I'd love to describe this play as "raw" or some similar word that communicates how it cuts to the bone both in theme and dialogue -- but I feel like that betrays how tender and effortlessly funny it is, bringing a deft, bitingly-real humor to a narrative about pained people in a painful time. Its characters are in a constant war between the messiness of the real and that desperate hope for an ordered, safe world that makes sense -- and Rosenberg gets to the heart of that conflict with each line and interaction. Anyway, somebody do the play please.

An honest look at trauma, mental health and growing up that starts an important conversation. Well done.

We were looking forward to a workshop presentation of this play that was prematurely cancelled due to COVID-19. JANIE is comprised of 6 beautifully complex, female-identifying characters. In this distressing coming-of-age story, they face some of the more complicated issues plaguing our society (gun violence, eating disorders, mental health). Jan's unique voice is funny & relatable and will certainly spark important conversations. Highly recommended.

Janie and her friends are fascinating characters. The girls' reactions to Janie's recent trauma (and being eleven!) are absolutely beautifully written. I loved the helpless, loving, complicated presence of her parents on the sidelines of the slumber party. This play is an eloquent response to our dangerous times, funny, perceptive, and harrowing, and I couldn't put it down until I finished reading.

This play, yes! This writer handles successfully and tactfully, with a great balance of light and dark, childhood and maturity, how eleven year old girls handle trauma. Her friends are a supportive circle and I also appreciate the presence of the parents in the play, and how well they are rendered. This is also an emotionally exhausting play (in all the good ways) that needs to be performed in communities. Even just on reading, it made me want to hug my dog afterwards!

I LOVE this play. I am OBSESSED with this play. Jan's dialogue is fire, her characters clearly and beautifully drawn and this is one of the most exciting pieces of theatre I've seen written about the effects that our times have on our girls. And on us. Produce, support, put this play everywhere.

Such a beautiful, subtle, poignant play on the PTSD that lives in our culture of mass shootings. It's a lovely simple event - a young woman has a sleep over of friends for the first time since being involved in a mass shooting event. It is about trying to get back to normal. It is so good. Also, Jan has a wonderful sense of humor and paints a picture that is of today. A play that will move you - and will inspire conversation about collateral damage.

Such a great play for this moment! But this "moment" is not going away, so produce this play forever! People have all sorts of ideas about preteen girls, and this play provides us with such wonderful characters in a dramatic situation that could happen to anyone at any moment. PTSD is real and happening to many of us; watching how Janie and her moms struggle with it is tonic for our collective souls.

No matter how much we want to shelter them, children are going to deal with trauma in their lives and we need to have places where they can be talked about honestly. Rosenberg has crafted such a nuanced play that tackles mental health among pre-teens head on and is both comedic and tragic. These issues are not going to go away and it's only the kids who are going to get hurt because of our silence so please produce art like this that opens the doors to communication.