←Recommendations of

This play about a pair of siblings who just buried their mother and are trying to keep their magic shop afloat in a gentrifying neighborhood plays with form and time and has several moments that I would love to see on stage to see how on earth they're pulled off. This play reads like poetry and is full of its own kind of magic.

In his latest work, Lloyd uses cosmic-inspired horror to portray grief and generational trauma with terrifying impact. While many of us come to realize that our parents aren't actually gods, protagonists Jodie and Clarence are forced to consider that their mother was something much more arcane, reframing their desires through the supernatural mess she's left for them to clean. The only problem with this amazing script is that I haven't been able to think of anything else since reaching its final page.

I feel like I've been reading a lot of plays lately about dying businesses in gentrified areas, but what makes this play special are the characters the writer's manipulation of time and space. Lloyd manages to tell what might seem like a familiar story through a unique and entirely theatrical lens. And the ending of this play is that perfect mix of surprising and inevitable. It is my ardent wish that this play receives a full production as soon as possible! I want to be the first in line to buy tickets.

"The Problem With Magic, Is:" is a poignant, moving, and haunting exploration of gentrification's impacts on families and businesses, what it means to be truly home, grief, and the nature of time. As an initial reader for this play for BAPF 2020, I was immediately struck by Lloyd's gorgeous distortion of time and space and his formal experimentation (I'm a sucker for formal experimentation). By taking these daring theatrical risks, the writer's voice utterly shines in every crevice of the play. I couldn't recommend Lloyd's voice and work enough, and I'm so excited to see where this play ends up.

A beautiful and haunting play that stylistically navigates gorgeous, lyrical imagery paired with warm and specific humanity. Lloyd explores family, generational legacy/inheritance/trauma, grief, and more in a way that expresses the gravity of such issues and feelings while not shying away from looking forward, hope, and finding solace in home. Jodie and Clarence's relationship is rendered with such poignance and complexity. The beautiful/unnerving/fantastical stage images described here are astounding, and I'd love to see them realized onstage. If you can see the second BAPF reading of this that's still upcoming, please do so!

Delicious, wise, and self-possessed. The Problem With Magic, Is: offers a rich and nuanced mystery, complete with all the chills of a good ghost story and the warmth of a real family.

This is a really poetic and beautiful play. Read it during a rain storm and felt every bit of it's magic and humanity. Plays like this remind me that we are a shared people.

Playwrights Foundation highly recommends THE PROBLEM WITH MAGIC, IS:, which excelled to the Finalist round (top 35) for the 44th annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival out of 755 plays. Our community of readers felt this play best represented the mission of our festival. This work engaged us, inspired us, moved us, and was an outstanding example of transformative storytelling. Our local Bay Area Literary Council commends THE PROBLEM WITH MAGIC, IS: as a compelling, relevant, cathartic new work which should be produced now. Congratulations! #BAPF2021