←Recommendations of SKIN

A beautiful play about a historical figure that has been forgotten. A play about the cultural and personal significance of tattoos. Loved how place and time is played with. Loved the choice for doubling here. I can't wait to see what a scenic designer does with this play. Produce this play and keep Jeoly's story alive.

Guerzon crafts a story across time which is both heartbreaking and hopeful, full of both depth and momentum.

A beautiful, heartfelt, and enrapturing narrative about two timelines that are connected through the art of tattooing. Anamaria Guerzon highlights the historical and modern significance of tattooing, and weaves in personal stories and complicated relationships masterfully. The exploration of trauma on POC bodies is very intriguing, and leans into the complexities of the subject.

True healing can only come from the hurt never happening in the first place. There is a weaving of time and space between the cold, sterile white-guy owned tattoo shop and Jeoly's capture by colonizers that is intentional and kind, without pulling punches. The play is epic without being overbearing, and intimate while still being highly theatrical. In addition to this, the joy and resistance shared by Judy, Zora, Nanay, and Jeoly is honest. Anamaria Guerzon's SKIN is a play that will be loved by many for years to come.

I loved the malleability of space and time in this piece and the ways Jeoly's and Zora's stories echo one another and intertwine in subtle and palpable ways. There is text that moves at a brisk and natural pace as well as words that lean into lyricism and some of the profound inner workings of these characters' minds. While the play deals with the traumas connected to being confronted with and having to confront white supremacy, it is all done in a gentle and intentional manner that honors but never exploits the pain of Zora, Nanay, Jeoly, or Judy.

Anamarie Guerzon’s “Skin” challenges readers to embrace the innate junction on path to beauty: pain. Poetic, but not at expense of conversation, Guerzon’s commitment to verse gives the text an almost musicality. The collaboration of historical truth and modern fantasy reminds us that prejudice transcends century, and demonstrates the persistence of white capitalization of brown bodies. Intersecting plotlines, woven like the inkforms they center, conjoin in perfect amalgam of past and present violence. Raw characters compel readers to the page. Guerzon’s writing honors the story of Jeoly; A debt owed, due to be repaid. A hypnotizing full-length.

Breathtaking. Guerzon challenges the reader to embrace and interrogate her characters, and from the questions raised she produces the reward of unforgettable interconnections that can span both place and time. The beauty of the objectives lives in the imperfections of the characters and creates a texture that is realistic and imprinting. So many fragile conversations under the needle. A gorgeous and spellbinding full-length.

I am in love with this play! It is through SKIN that I first heard about Jeoly. Ultimately, Jeoly's story touches on the long history of tattoos in Filipinx culture and Western imperialism. The use of parallel and, yet simultaneously, intersecting timelines is effective in showing how racism and white supremacy continue to exist in the present (and are not merely operating in the past). Guerzon is such a skilled storyteller! I hope to see this produced one day!

WOW! Tattoos have always held a fascination for me, and this play has not only increased my fascination, but also carries a necessary message about race, identity, culture, and the healing and change that is still necessary in contemporary society because of atroicities done in the past. The dialogue is pure poetry and the story of Joely and others like him is one that not only affected Zora in the play, but myself as well, and it's one I'll be thinking about for quite a while. Produce this!