←Recommendations of Essential Starlite

The community of national & local readers for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival in 2021 enthusiastically recommends ESSENTIAL STARLITE as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation out of 755 plays. We highly enjoyed and were excited by the superhero world of the play with a whole community of differently-abled characters, which is unfortunately too rare in theatre. We were compelled by this play's promise using engaging narratives to raise questions about power, exploitation, exposing truth, and sacrifice. We hope this play is widely read, finds dedicated collaborators, and moves swiftly towards production. #BAPF2021

As a reader for BAPF 2021, this play was one of the most exciting works that I had the honor to read. With multiple disabled characters who have intersectional identities, this imaginative piece explores the complexities of disability and sacrifice. A bold play that centers authentic representation, it is thoroughly engaging while probing the deeper question of what being a hero truly means. Highly recommend.

Full of imagination and heart, Essential Starlite, is a well, essential addition to the fabric of superhero stories woven so thickly into our modern world. A moving story of young people trying to make a difference in a world that so often sees disabled bodies as disposable and worthless. Peercy deftly comments on current issues without being preachy and overbearing. Do yourself a favor and read this play!

A poignant genre-bending "superhero" dark comedy, exploring the roles of people with disabilities in the “abled” capitalistic world, how the government, with the aid of media and the mass, manipulates these “extraordinary” individuals to sacrifice themselves willingly for the “greater cause." Heartfelt, timely, tragic but also incredibly funny. Designers will have such a fun time doing this visually exciting piece. Highly Recommend.

One of the finest scripts to come out of The New Colony's Writers Room in recent memory, this is an ambitious and provocatively powerful piece about the curse of power and the illusion of choice, about disabilities and extraordinary abilities. It is cutting, funny, and the a worthy, original addition to the superhero renaissance of this cultural moment. Must-read.