←Recommendations of Cassie Strickland Is Not Under the Bed

Cassie Strickland is Not Under the Bed is such a powerful story that is more relevant today than ever. The writing is absolutely excellent and allows the reader to have a firsthand look into the mind of this paranoid, grieving man. Such a beautiful piece about the complication of grief from a perspective you don't usually hear.

Cassie Strickland Is Not Under the Bed is a fantastic display of tragedy. The haunts of past mistakes are showcased through childhood fear that manifests as real horror. This piece not only keeps you lingering in suspense, but delivers a jump scare extraordinaire. Well done!

Do not, as I did, put something in the oven and set a timer to go off while you're engrossed in the final few pages of this play. What I love about this short horror story is how well Vince Gatton unravels the back story involving Clay's "mistake", all the while stoking the tension surrounding the big, horrifying question: "is this play's title friggin' lying to me?!!" Masterfully done!

From the title CASSIE STRICKLAND IS NOT UNDER THE BED to the white-knuckle inducing stage direction in the last pages, this is a riveting, extremely well-crafted short horror play. It’s inspiring how Vince Gatton uses each of our childhood imaginations (the archetypal fear for what’s under the bed) to get us inside Clay’s fear and feel it along with him - while also wanting to side with skeptic Howie. There are many great lines that make this frightening story come to life. I love Howie's line about people not knowing how to act around Clay.

Someone used Clay’s gun to do a bad thing. Now he needs the gun to protect himself from the forces that want him to pay (both human and decidedly not). CASSIE STRICKLAND… is part of Gatton’s broader storyline about gun violence and its impacts; the depth of the world-building, character backstory, and blanks left to be filled in makes this parable about guilt and responsibility stand on its own, and stand out from similar ten-minute plays.

The problem with recommending this play, and saying that it's got one of the all-time great jump scares, is that it's selling the piece short. CASSIE STRICKLAND is also a masterful depiction of American masculinity, gun culture, small-town dynamics, and survivor guilt, and to say one more word about Gatton's accomplishment is to rob it of its sinister power. (But yeah, it's got one of the all-time great jump scares.)

I was so drawn in to this story. I needed to know WHY Clay was stuck in bed. I needed to know IF there was something under the bed. And I needed to know how to truly feel as the back story was slowly revealed. Eerie and tragic.

Fantastic. A play that plays on imaginary childhood and very real, adult fears. I was hooked from beginning to end. Bravo, playwright.

You have to love a play that spends its time trying to talk you off the edge. And I do love this gem. It provides you ample reason to believe the fantastic and the credible at the same time. A taught thriller that feels like a panic attack, but then pays off in true horror glory. Bravo, Vince.

Many of Vince’s wickedly smart works can be described as “genre bending”, but they go way beyond that. He’ll set a genre in a room and ask of it to stay quiet until audiences are certain they’ve found it (they won’t have), then he’ll whistle for it to reveal itself. Such is the case with this amazing short. What begins as a bittersweet story about shame and grief turns into something else entirely. Another home run, Mr. Gatton. As you read this one, keep its title in mind. It’s not a lie.