←Recommendations of Cowboy and the Moon

A powerful look at the affects of addiction on a family through a creative lens that has a great deal to teach us. Well done.

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Eliana Pipes and their play Cowboy and the Moon 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.

A highly theatrical and original examination of the ways alcoholism destroys families. Pipes gives us four extremely interesting and multi-dimensional characters and completely succeeds in taking the oft-used concept of the alcoholic patriarch and turning it on its head by making him so vulnerable, by plumbing his quietness for truth, and by avoiding the cliche of violent, toxic man. On the contrary, the Man's insidious, nuanced implosion feels more tragic than a louder and more bombastic story would've. Potent family drama coexists with fantastical, amazing images that I would absolutely love to see staged. Wrenching, important, beautiful.

Through deeply poetic gestures alongside raw displays of emotion, this play strikes right at the heart. Alcohol addiction affects far more than the individual who is addicted - this play shows that immensely through the complex, flawed wife and daughter, bringing their narratives to the forefront. Rich in beauty alongside pain, this play is a full experience, one I was glad to have at seeing it read at the Kennedy Center.