←Recommendations of ROUGH WATERS (a 10 minute play)

What's truly remarkable about this piece is how much it embraces silence. In a world that pulls us in every direction, it's a real treat to pause for a moment with these characters and reflect on life, death, and what makes us who we are. Also, it features great roles for older actors, and shows remarkable craftsmanship in its rise and fall. I had the pleasure of seeing it read at the 2019 Midwest Dramatists Conference, and I would love to see it fully produced!

The human pace in this beautiful conversation is what I love most about it. There's space, around these two characters, space between each other, stretching back to the past - and a kind of distance that O'Neill-Butler develops with a delicate brush stroke. This play's energy in smooth, its relationship developing in a liminal space where a connection will be made, or lost. In a sense, the ferry ride that these characters are on, takes them to a place where they have a chance to grow. A thoughtful, connective play about loss, and living. Just beautifully done.

A lovely and poetic testimony to a friendship struck up between two lonely people riding the Staten Island Ferry. Marj O'Neill-Butler has a delicate and deft touch in all of her work, but this gem, heard at the 2019 Midwest Dramatists Conference, is a charmer from start to finish.

A beautiful slice of life between two people in need of a found family. The relaxed pace in the structure of a ten minute play allows enormous room for two strong actors to connect with each other and an audience.