←Recommendations of The Sentence - 10 Minute Play

Nice taut writing, clearly and interestingly drawn characters--everything that you need and hope for in a great 10-minute play. Kudos to Mr. Kaminski!

The moment I saw the tagline and knowing what I know about Ryan's skill as a writer, I knew I had to read this play! Its another brilliant example of how Ryan lulls you into a false sense of security of thinking you know how things are going to turn out and then expertly twists it. Three very different people find themselves witnessing an execution for three different reasons and yet by the end they have all had an impact on the others lives! They are characters who could be wonderful to perform, so emotionally complicated and brilliantly created!

How are you supposed to feel in a situation like this? A son waits ten years for the execution of his father's killer, only to discover once it's done there's no cause for a celebration. Ryan Kaminski's THE SENTENCE is unusually moving - given the length of the play and the complex subject - because of the deft and poignant brushstrokes the playwright brings to the canvas. His theme speaks to these troubled times of ours in which people increasingly can't see any other POV than their own and double-down for revenge. I love that the resolution is generational!

Currently being in rehearsal for a play relating to the death penalty, this short piece hits a direct bullseye for me. A strong premise comes to a powerful conclusion as I relate to both side of the argument posed. Indeed, none of this feels right.

A great premise and a great script! I enjoyed the main character's arc--from gleefully seeking vengeance to expressing empathy for another.

Empathy and revenge are served raw in this short play set in one of the darkest places imaginable. Heavily laden with foreboding, it ends just as you know it will. And that’s what’s so upsetting. This one will stay with you a while.

This is powerful piece about what always is at the other side of hate. I love how this play gives us more information about the punishment of a person than his crime, I think it gives us a lot of space to consider if anything is worth this particular punishment. The twist at the end is of course excellent and heartbreaking. I feel like, overall these are all characters I want to know more about, but also who each serve a clear purpose in embodying the different perspectives audience members might have.

Sometimes setting is everything. Taking the deceptively simple but highly evocative setting of a viewing gallery at a prison's lethal injection room, Ryan Kaminski lets the mood of place lay a bedrock of tone that doesn't let up throughout. By placing two unnamed characters alongside one another who share the anguish of loss, Ryan successfully releases the potential in his setting. Nice work.

A ten minute play can often feel incomplete or the start of a bigger play that needs more character development, especially when it’s a drama. Ryan Kaminski has crafted a short play that feels absolutely right in terms of its brief scope. The point here is for two of the characters to not know enough about each other as human beings to fully understand the weight of their feelings and the complexities of their individual lives. It is shocking, and the ending is devastatingly final. Well done!

A powerful and heartbreaking play. In a tight dialogue, we know and imagine the lifelong (past and future) pain of these characters. Audiences will think about this play for a long time.