←Recommendations of Rx Machina

The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced RX MACHINA as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We found this piece compelling as it reaches for the big, complicated questions of "who has access to survival and in what ways" as it interrogates the predatory nature of capitalism within big pharma. We also appreciated the theatricality expressed both through the writer setting up such clear rules of the world and then breaking them. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

I love when a play is not easily resolved and solutions don't come easy. This is an honest depiction of humans dealing with pain and addiction from multiple side. This play points no fingers and provides no neat, wrapped up conclusions. I loved Hannah's speech and the moments where she dropped it and spoke 'normally'. It's a very powerful, exciting way to show that not everything here is black and white. This is a play in real time, because it's all-too real and urgent.

This is an excellent, nuanced play about an issue that is often erroneously portrayed as black-and-white. These characters are complicated and conflicted -- an actor's dream -- and the story twists and turns in ways that lean into those conflicts. I would love to see it staged!

What struck me most about this play is the fully developed characters. They're not mouthpieces, or drawn two-dimensionally, but fully realized people, each with their faults, desires, and needs. This attention to detail carries into other parts of the play, where the conflict is perfect and the tension keeps everything moving. There are no easy answers, and the playwright knows this, crafting a play that challenges you and makes you think.

Wholeheartedly agree with all the other recommendations! RX MACHINA shows you the churning underbelly of the cogs of the American medical system, and what they do to the fallible humans who are run through it. The play is keen and incisively honest, imbued with both growth and death, hope and disgust. In other words, if you've spent five minutes in the hospital, either yourself or with a loved one, this play is for you. Features five - 5! - incredibly rich, nuanced female roles.

A powerful, poignant play that explores huge, relevant, and troubling social issues by focusing in on a well-chosen cross section of women. I also loved how the well-written, character-driven, naturalistic scenes that vibrated with humanity, humor, and pathos were punctuated by these compelling theatrical movement moments. All of the characters were well-developed, but I especially loved seeing Nina's journey and development as it (and her relationship with Maren) served also as a potent extended metaphor for the ways ethics, compromise, capitalism, and personal gain intersect with regards to the opioid crisis.

This play is an excellent ensemble piece that looks at the opioid crisis. There are no heroes or villains in this play. There is just deeply flawed people doing their best in a truly messed up system.

things to appreciate about this piece: extremely compelling movement and sound moments that give any production company engaging challenges; an all-femme cast with richly complex characters; exploration of morals in the pharmaceutical industry -- AND it's queer! Violette gives us a no-holds-barred look at defining success, corruption, and right vs. wrong.

Rx Machina offers a compelling exploration of the pernicious effects of the abandonment of professional and personal ethics. The human costs of the opioid epidemic are movingly illuminated.

In Rx Machina, Violette takes something as complex and overwhelming as a massive opioid epidemic and deftly brings it down to a human scale, where ambition, desire, and profits drive people to make decisions that have unintended, cumulative consequences. This piece never feels like an “issue” play; the characters and their needs and actions are always at the heart of the story. Overall, a very timely play with five great roles for women actors and lots for directors and designers to get excited about.