←Recommendations of Rite of Passage

Wonderful and heart-warming, how to manage very hard things with grace and humor. The characters are in turmoil and the stakes are high. I appreciate the autism depicted in a way that really felt true to my own autistic experience and resonates for me along with the loss and the grief and confusion for a young person to deal with loss... what a beautiful play!

Excuse me while I wipe away my tears. Salant truly crafts come complex and incredibly human characters in this piece that deals with heavy material with a tender hand. You feel for all of the characters and even cry with them. I am incredibly impressed by this piece and think that after reading it once, I want to read it again, as my director's mind is going wild with possibilities. A great choice for any theatre who really wants to create an intimate piece and focus on character work. Great job!

Rite of Passage is my favorite thing Izzy Salant has ever written, and I've been reading his work for years. Its heard-rending story will leave you emotional yet hopeful. Its dialogue can feel like a punch in the gut in one moment and remind you of your best friend's funniest joke the next. "Rite of Passage" pierces right through the page, hitting every note on the emotional scale. Anyone with even the mildest interest in theater needs to read this play.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this tenderly-written story about family, grief, and coming of age. Salant writes with both an excellent grasp of his multi-dimensional characters and an intentional eye towards the ways their specific identities inform their lives. From Maura's haunting presence to David's several private moments of grief to Harold's poignant Bar Mitzvah speech, Salant has created a distinctly theatrical world that pairs comedy with pathos. I especially loved how moving truths and character developments were highlighted here without the need for histrionics or manufactured grand gestures. A moving and nuanced work!

Breathtaking.

Heart-wrenching.

I got the wind knocked out of me with this one. The way Salant is able to communicate pain in this piece is nothing short of beautiful. RITE OF PASSAGE is lives up to its name - not only for the crucible the play sends its characters through, but for the how it challenges and changes its audience for having experienced the piece. It's a story I hope is shared again and again.

What a gut-wrenchingly gorgeous play. Salant's grasp on his characters and their heartbreak is true, and he's infused them with both anger and humor: they're wonderfully human. It's a cliché to say this, but: I really laughed, I really cried, and the play really became a part of me. It's a universal story, beautifully told.

"Rite of Passage" is a beautiful play by Izzy Salant. It made me laugh. It broke my heart. I have tears in my eyes as I write this. Thank you for sharing your story.