←Recommendations of oh to be pure again

I was deeply moved by this play, & I imagine many others will be as well. These characters are sincere, impassioned, & beautifully painted portraits of what it can look like for young people trying to figure out who God is while becoming who they are. The ferocity & joy of the ending is particularly commendable!

Comedically captures many niche Bible camp experiences and archetypes while exploring the impact of purity culture from multiple perspectives with tenderness and nuance.

Kira's dialogue is so fresh and connected, the characters and their hopes and dreams and internal struggles jump off the page. Beautiful and timely piece. I look forward to following this play's production trajectory! Brava!

Searing and nuanced, while never sacrificing laser-precise jokes and a flooring sense of theatricality, this play is incredibly special. Wow. The characters are lived-in and funny and heartbreaking. The writing is poetic and disarming all at once ("God-mom"? Break my heart!) Everything in this play feels carved with such intention (from such painful material), but what's so impressive is the hopefulness that steers the final moment of the play. The craft alone is running on all cylinders, but to add the clarity? Towards patriarchy, purity culture, and teen girls reaching for something more? So special. A rare, one-of-a-kind play.

This play is a beautiful and balanced exploration of purity culture within Christianity. There are moments to laugh with the characters and their summer camp antics, and moments your heart breaks when the patriarchy pops the bubble of feminine joy. Fantastic design challenges within. A beautiful story that colleges everywhere should produce!

An astoundingly well-observed exploration of purity culture. Rockwell's characters are never merely caricatures, even as their culture is critiqued. Their search for God and for friendship is pure, even as they are made to feel impure.

Deliciously visceral, Kira's oh, to be pure again pairs the rapturous highs and hellish lows of teenage girlhood. The play offers up a sweaty, tousled, fervent naiveté, offering us both the eggshells of faith and the abyss of the real world. I laughed, I cried, I questioned God, I walked away longing to weave friendship bracelets for every character. What a kickass exploration of what it means to be alive, human, and not alone.

I had the pleasure of dramaturging this play at the Kennedy Center and I was continually struck by the piece's honest, thoughtful, and complex exploration of young women navigating faith, love, friendship, and identity. Never preachy or judgmental, this show was equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking. We need more dynamic, messy young women onstage and this play gives us so many to admire.

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Kira Rockwell and their play Oh, to Be Pure Again as a finalist for our 2020 National Playwrights Conference. This particular work emerged from a highly competitive, anonymous, and multi-tiered selection process to become one of 63 finalists out of more than 1,500 submissions. This enthralling piece galvanized the hearts and theatrical imaginations of our reading teams and is fully championed by our offices. We are honored to put our enthusiastic support behind this writer and their ongoing contributions to the American Theater.

Rockwell's unleashed a surprising and subtle gut punch with her incredible cast of characters. Her voice, form and reckoning with the material at hand deftly dazzles. Actors shine in these roles, and the clarity of demand- for women in solidarity with women- for a new definition of empowerment and intimacy and holiness- conjures a haunting hope. I can't wait for more of Rockwell and this play!