←Recommendations of New Kid Next Door

Putting a group of kids at the center of this chilling story was an amazing way to divert expectations! Even with all the subtle clues, the dark and deeply twisted ending caught me off guard - and only lead to more questions about the new kid next door! Like me, audiences will be perched on the edge of their seats trying to frantically gather clues and figure out what's going on with this well-drawn trio of hooligans. A group of teens would have a BLAST performing these roles and basking in the shocked response! Such a fun, twisted short!

Wow! Talk about an explosive ending! My hat is off to Arthur Jolly for this creepy little tale. I thought I knew where it was going, (the signs were sort of there) and, here's the beauty of this play, it zigged juuuuuuuust enough to maintain the unsettling tone, but took it in a way I wasn't quite expecting. I'm trying to be vague here so you'll be tempted to read it. You won't be sorry.

A horror-comedy with a very dry sense of humor. Razielle, the new kid, seems weird. Her parents sound weird too. It does not seem like any one in that family knows how to have fun. But how many of us have never been the weird kid for whom our new friends' ideas of fun and normalcy were a novelty?

An idyllic setting, 4th July, friends waiting for the fireworks when the new kid next door pops by.....what could go wrong? There are subtle hints to the direction of this piece as it plays out, but they don't prepare you for the clever final twist! I love he way the writer keeps this mystery subtle, leaving the audience to make up their mind. Love it!

As the title suggests, NEW KID NEXT DOOR is a universal, one most of us experienced as kids, but Razielle steadily becomes unlike any other new kid. I love Arthur M Jolly's patient storytelling, the early use of repetition, how Kevin can't get over how the newcomer has never seen fireworks, his sister Simone taking this up only to discover that it includes fireworks on television. So much of this play depends on beautifully crafted implications, the savagely weird and bloody irony that the fireworks are well underway offstage. I wouldn't tweak a darn thing about this gem. Nice work.

Something is off when you haven't seen fireworks, after all, one must wait for morning and not be seen... so creepy and fantastic!

This play is just down-right creepy in the best way. Always a great mine to draw inspiration from, new kids or families in the neightborhood make for great subjects and stories--especially the stories and gossip by all of the other families that were "invaded" with the fresh and new blood. What works best with Jolly's play is its rich dialogue that carries this story along to its horrifying conclusion. Well done.

Turns out the odd new family next door aren't Amish as Kevin guesses. The air of menace throughout is laced with humor and real pre-adolescent behavior and attitudes. And the pay-off is as deliciously horrifying as you could hope.

Right from the get-go, you know something's off. The build is slow and steady dropping just enough hints to create a perfect sense of menace. I love horror stories that take place on beautiful days and this one is right on the Fourth of July! The suspense is expertly woven, in that it places the kids in jeopardy in a manner where we know things are worse than they seem but there's no reason for them to suspect that. Something's just off. The matter-of-factness of it all gives it an extra kick. Kudos!