←Recommendations of Abigail, For Now

The gripping set-up pulled me in, the interesting story kept me, and the fast, smooth dialogue moved the whole thing along at impressive speed. I couldn't stop reading once I started; I was so desperate to find out what happened to Abigail, who felt like a new, interesting friend by the end. Speaking of the ending -- goosebumps!!

This play quickly became unstoppable for me. I really enjoyed it and was deeply concerned for the characters. I'm also really torn up about the ending in a good way, as a spark for dialogue, and it's so theatrically fabulous, and there are so many ways to imagine it. A producible play about mental illness that is likable and feels so real. Well done!

It is difficult, living. Confusing. Bitter, at times. Lonely. Alien.

Abigail would hate that last word. She's not from Earth, or so she claims. People attempt to fix her, to ease her out of delusion. But Jackie Martin refuses to let us follow that well-worn path. Abigail's beliefs aren't her problem. She is lonely. She doesn't belong.

But she does.

"Abigail, For Now," filled with likeable characters discussing mental health without ever feeling like walking PSAs, brings us a single, unyielding hope. It is not reality that matters. It's connection. It's kindness. It's living. I very much enjoyed reading this.

At turns difficult, touching, funny, and unsettling. This piece asks us to live in an uncomfortable place of not knowing..and I loved that feeling! Hope this play is added to many seasons!

Adolescence can be alienating all on its own, but Martin injects the metaphor with a beautiful energy in this ensemble-driven story. Abigail's journey to make connections with the other "troubled teens" is engaging, despite her unwillingness to interact as a human. When Abigail finally opens up and speaks her truth, it's much less otherworldly than we expect. The play ends with a truly phenomenal visual bang! Brilliant work!

Martin has crafted an unsettling fable of a teenage girl who has come to believe in a reality everyone knows to be false. Her parents are sympathetic, they are real. There are no simple answers, there is no ah-ha moment when some dark secret is made evident, we are left in the dark to wonder, as they do, what has happened to Abigail? It is a brilliant metaphor for being adolescent, and also for what it is like, as a parent, to feel helpless in the face of inevitable change. Or is it a metaphor? Regardless, it's exceptional. Highly recommended!

This play is truly magical; that doesn't mean it's light and fluffy – it's not. It's quite serious in its depiction of teen angst and the desire to live a different life than the one given by whatever higher powers there may be. But Abigail IS different, and her longing to return to her sense of normal is palpable and drives the play forward with a touching depth of emotion. And the magic comes in Martin's ability to enchant readers (and inevitably, audiences) with a suspension of disbelief that also keeps one questioning from beginning to end. Wondrous.