←Recommendations of The Agency

The conceit behind this play is fascinating, and paired with Lia Romeo's phenomenal execution, this piece resonates. I love the way it explores the types of "lesser grief" that we're all expected to live with - natural estrangement, breakups, and our own imagined futures. It made me think a lot about how every relationship is a sort of performance - what does it mean to be authentic in a dynamic world? The dialogue is spare, snappy, and effective, and the scenes consistently move at a fast and engaging clip. The ending is devastating and perfect. Painful, relatable, moving, and cathartic.

We are pleased to support this play & playwright! THE AGENCY was a featured staged reading in our 2023 New Works Festival at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, Texas.

This play is full of so much wit, insight, heart, humor, and humanity. Lia, in her usual amazingly economical dialogue, gets right to the heart of each character and each scene with incredible dexterity. A wonderful commentary on how grief and capitalism intersect with a simultaneous razor sharp accurate critique of the hustle culture of an artist. I was laughing one minute, nodding the next, and then gasping at the truth bombs she drops every page. Highly recommend this play.

Fascinating idea and brilliantly executed. It is so unique, it swept me up and kept me engaged and guessing. Highly recommend.

Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize THE AGENCY by Lia Romeo as a Semi-Finalist for the 2022 Premiere Play Festival. THE AGENCY rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 35 semifinalists out of 655 submissions. The panel was particularly impressed by philosophical and ethical questions of the commodification of identity presented in a well-paced, clear structure with both comedic and tragic elements. Our congratulations and thanks to Lia.

Capitalism and humanity meet as one wonders what paid opportunities will do to the real life relationships. Insightful and well done.

Be warned, this is a gut punch of a play, but its heart is tender and keening, and so so worth the journey. Romeo’s dialogue has a natural cadence and almost brutal efficiency, and brings us into a world that not only feels all too close on the horizon, but raises fascinating implications and questions about humanity’s relationship with hope. Just as her characters will pay anything to cover their rental fees, what I would not give to see this sublime play on a stage. Theatre at its finest.

Having read several of Lia Romeo's plays, I know I can count on them to be fast-paced, uniquely offbeat, supremely human, and to explore some big ideas in understated ways. Here, Romeo uses THE AGENCY to examine loneliness, connection, loss, and the devastation left in the wake of souring, torn apart, or dysfunctional relationships. That she does this while also making some excellent points about the lives of actors and other artists, the commodification of friendship, love, and sex, and celebrity shows her uncanny ability to juggle so much within a potent, intimate, one-of-a-kind story. Excellent!

This is a fun, modern take on the concept of the purchasing power of money. Or...
"Can money buy happiness?"
Sprinkled with comedic nods to modern life, an out of work actress takes an absurd temp assignment to help pay her share of the rent. The story keeps shifting, and the writing is controlled, witty and well-observed.

Run don't walk to read this play. The characters are complicated and delicious for actors to dig into, the story keeps you on your toes through the last image, and the writing is whip-smart and full of specificity, heart, and big big questions about the roles we play and the systems in which we play them.