←Recommendations of Soft Rains

While one could argue that this delicious, intimate play is about a horrifying pandemic, it really delivers universal messages about the powers of grief and fear. Even at the end of the world, we see man's propensity to assign blame to the other... but what I love most about this piece is the stunning, subtle implication that the key to resilience in this post-apocalyptic landscape is love. There are a few really stunning lines that took my breath away, but I'll let you discover them! Gorgeous!

Jacquie checks all of the boxes in this two-hander rife with suspense. Odd location (Funeral Parlor), unique character situation (strangers, apocalypse happening outside), tension (either could be infected by whatever it is). Jacquie leaves so much open to interpretation, but not the fear, and not the reality of Arlo and Zoe that builds tension as the show grows. Love this show! Highly recommend.

I think what is most brilliant here is we don't know what is happening outside this scene. Something is ravaging the Earth, that much we know, but what exactly? We know it's enough to cause this much distress between these two characters and enough to create that amount of distrust. I love a Jacquie Floyd-Priskorn play because she is great at building tension and keeping you on the edge of your seat. Lovely work!

This play is so clever, for throughout it we are made well aware that some awful disease has beset the world (I was secretly hoping for Zombieism (is that a word?) because Jacquie is a master of Zombie plays.) But we never find out exactly what has happened.
Instead we are treated to a tender moment of two humans sheltering together, and the love stories which emerge between them.
Dark and beautiful, a mix I love!

Either Jacquie Floyd-Priskorn is ahead of her time or the times just refuse to change for the better. In SOFT RAINS, written more than a decade ago, she shows us a worst case scenario of a world consumed by disease, fear, and hatred; not an unfamiliar path. And yet, in her unique ability to blend humor into even the most dire circumstances, she gives us a glimmer of hope through two endearing characters. This play is as timely as ever and in need of a revival.

I found myself leaning further and further forward reading this play, desperate to know what events led Arlo and Zoe to the situation in which they find themselves. That 'being drawn in' feeling will follow you right through this play as the emotional rollar coaster proceeds between the two characters. Just as new things are discovered by the audience, new questions come into play. It would make such a powerful piece to perform because it will most definitely draw the audience in and make them feel for the characters in their situation, which you should read to find out about!

JACQUELYN FLOYD-PRISKORN puts us into a funeral parlor with two strangers. That’s the calmest thing in this fascinating play about what might be our apocalypse. When things seem destined to end in oblivion, we are given hope which is exactly the right ending. “Soft Rain” will resonate with the audience and will definitely be a topic of discussion for some time after this gripping play is read or seen on stage. BRAVO!

Jacquelyn takes the hammer and introduces the nail to the head in this stunning piece. She gets so much right about our current world order, and yet as terrifyingly possible as it all is, manages to find the hope that still lingers, as gently as the soft rain that falls at the end of the play. A beautiful, prescient, touching, and necessary work.

An extraordinarily prescient piece which, though written some time ago, circles our present-day reality of disease, panic, and vitriol with a menacing anxiety. Arlo and Zoe—Alpha and Omega—embody aspects of so much about the ways people approach terrifying truths: denial, blame, hatred, fear and, strangely, hope. This haunting play could not be more timely.

Normally apocalyptic stories do not get much attention from me because they seem to have just one outcome. It may be hopeful or dire, but it is predictable. Not so with this one, and I stayed with it all the way through precisely because it did not follow the trope. Kudos to Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn for her deft writing and thoroughly engaging characters.