←Recommendations of Apologies to Lorraine Hansberry (You Too August Wilson)

A fierce and phenomenal play. It's hilarious and heartbreaking, and so unflinching and honest.

This is certainly one of my favorite plays that I would kill to see fully staged. A brilliant look into intersectionality and unabashedly unafraid to examine the microcosms within the black community and beg to question when divisions are just that-- divisions.

Hilarious, witty, bold, and ultimately deeply profound, Lynett’s daring deconstruction of the “Black play” kicks open the door to include Black folx standing at the intersection(ality) of race, ethnicity, culture, and sexuality. Her brilliant concept envisions an alternative American social order where everyone has self-segregated by race into self-governed states to ensure safe spaces. The reckoning comes from multi-racial citizens searching for where they belong. The themes are deep, but Lynett’s deft ear and humorous style make this play a joy to read from start to finish. I cannot wait to see it on stage!

A wonderful gob-smack of a play! Gimme gimme more! How can I say anything about this play without absolutely spoiling it for everyone? A unique study on who can claim an identity as an individual when the identity of the group is at stake.

A thought provoking play that takes a keen look at identity, what it means to those who belong to it and the efforts to enclose the box. Who belongs and why do we shut people out?

Very highly recommend this play! Produce it ASAP. Funny, frightening, intelligent, witty, and overall brilliant. A conversation for right now.

I loved everything about this play. Produce it far, wide and often.

Act I is a powerful exploration of Blackness and intersectionality that puts us white audience members on notice to LISTEN. Act II blows the roof off, as Lynett reinvents the rules of her own play, breaking then reconstructing then breaking the 4th wall. The result is a play that refuses to allow complacency, that challenges us to think, that blurs the lines between actor, audience, and community. Indianapolis was lucky to have the world premiere of this tour de force. I hope it’ll be widely produced after winning the Yale, because America needs to see this play.

The world of this play may be fictional, but the crucible of truth it creates is very real. The characters come alive in a play that hits on culture, identity, and community. Not content to exist in the traditional notion of what constitutes a play, this play breaks out into the realms of metafiction and experimental theatre, mirroring the experiences of its characters. I feel exposed to a world I that I myself have never truly felt. This play is an achievement of the highest order, and I am grateful to have read it. I hope to see it staged!

What I really admire about APOLOGIES TO LORRAINE HANSBERRY is how generously Rachel Lynett writes so as to invite the performers to be creators in our national conversation about Blackness. I would love to see more than one performance because each would be a unique work of art. For me, Lynett belongs with the playwriting tradition that begins with Adrienne Kennedy, which is no apology, but very high praise.