←Recommendations of THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION, full-length play for 5 Women

In this vibrant portrait, the art collector becomes a curator of the blooming color of Etta Cone's inner life. Rose explores Etta’s permanent state of urgent becoming and challenges ideas of patriarchy through bodily freedom. Rose's Cone sisters didn’t put their art on a pedestal to never be touched – they use it, they wear it, they drape themselves in it. A woman is also more than something to be marveled at. Rose's characters are sensual beings. They do not break easily and ‘if it breaks, it breaks.” Better to break by living than to die on a pedestal.

The Equivalent of Sensation is a moving memory play that chronicles a woman's awakening, through art, to sexuality and self-confidence. As the story flows through time, we see Etta Cone emerge from a shell of repression, inspired by the Modernist art she collects and her love for Gertrude Stein to literally shed her stifling Victorian garments and reveal the "color beneath the black and white." This play was a joy to read, and I suspect it would be even more affecting on stage. It should produced again and again.

A fascinating piece about art and love, with beautiful theatrical moments that I would love to see in production! The flower arranging scene was particularly memorable.

A beautiful reflection of art and legacy - grounded in history with characters grappling with their own narratives and the ones they leave behind. And why. Not to mention a beautiful exploration of love - of people, of family, of art. The last moments are exquisite. Beautiful. Inevitable.

Equivalent of Sensation introduces us to Etta and Claribel Cone, and their complicated lifelong friendship, Etta’s attraction to, and competition with Gertrude Stein and her lover Alice B Toklas. The play is a beautifully woven tapestry of ghosts recounting lesbian attraction and rejection, prompted by the art collection donated and newly installed in its own special wing of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Do the colorful people in Etta’s life truly outshine her, or through missed opportunity, do they never truly realize her own deep spender? A fantastic ensemble piece. Every character is written to make them shine.

The Cone sisters and Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. We have not heard it all! First, we are introduced to the Cone sisters, busy art collectors and then we watch as their relationships develops with Stein and Toklas in Paris - and beyond. This creative play excavates self, art, relationships and more --- Treated as a piece of art, Arianna Rose explores the stories between these women impressionistically, maybe even cubically - and works on many levels. Would love to see this done!

This is a beautifully conceived and written play about two sisters of whom most people know very little - the Cones of Baltimore. You'll want to know more about their lives after reading this play. The language and visual effects are inventive and stunning. You may also be surprised to learn about the sisters' relationship with the estimable Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. A full production is inevitable!

Four dead, well-remembered women come to life in this imaginative play. Art collecting, lesbian love, historical tidbits, and hiding one's real self are all explored. Time shifts within the script make this play come alive, as we learn about these early Impressionist art collectors. Cast of four women written by a woman. What could be better?