←Recommendations of FAMILY BY NUMBERS Award-winning 10-minute drama

I can't believe I haven't already recommended this stunning piece of writing. When I first read FAMILY BY NUMBERS I was struck by the amount of story-telling that was to be found in a ten minute play; the simplicity of the set up and the depth of the drama; the emotional swings and roundabouts. It has everything and stays with you - it has with me - I cannot recommend Arianna Rose's elegant and heartfelt play enough - writing of the highest calibre.

Numbers are simple except when they aren't. Family is simple except it never is. This play gives us familyadding from one to five and then subtracting to four again--beautiful and poignant.

Family is complicated. Family is frustrating. This terrific and powerful play also confirms: family is beautiful.

The play actively messes with the audience, and leaves the answers to the text only towards the ends. I like the way it is structured to tell such an important message about family and growing up in a unique way. Overall, there is so much meaning in the text.

The play actively messes with the audience, and leaves the answers to the text only towards the ends. I like the way it is structured to tell such an important message about family and growing up in a unique way. Overall, there is so much meaning in the text.

Not surprising this play is so highly acclaimed. Arianna Rose has created a beautifully written, completely relatable, emotional family journey in just 10 minutes. I read this at the end of the o-bon season in Japan, when deceased family members return home. As a number 5, I can’t help but think my numbers 1, 2, and 3 wanted me to read this. I’m grateful.

The pain of loss and the changing numbers and positions in a family reveal a profound complexity of emotion in this beautifully poignant short play. Arianna Rose gives us a rollercoaster of anguish after a family member goes missing, and it’s heartbreakingly real. The theatrical and poetic style of the piece make it transcendent.

Stellar foreshadowing. Gave me chills and almost had me in tears by the end, all in ten short pages. Very impressive writing.

So much feeling and wisdom is packed into these ten rich pages. A family forms and endures through minor annoyances and major tragedy. The balance of humor and pathos is spot on. It is easy to see how this play has achieved such success and acclaim.

We’ve all been one. And if we’re lucky - 2. And more. The sparseness of the numbers belie the swelling emotions that grow as numbers increase and decrease. A beautiful rendering of family - lost and found.