←Recommendations of Speak Freely

Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize SPEAK FREELY by Andrea Fiest Stein as a Semi-Finalist for the 2022 Premiere Play Festival. SPEAK FREELY rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 35 semifinalists out of 655 submissions. The panel was particularly impressed by the thematic breadth of the play and the balance found between everything that’s addressed, from McCarthyism to antisemitism to women’s rights and more. This is a tightly constructed mystery with strong characters. Congratulations to Andrea.

The Jewish Plays Project recommends SPEAK FREELY as a Semi-Finalist for the 11th annual Jewish Playwriting Contest. Our community of readers appreciated this story of assimilation, social aspiration and inherited trauma. This play has strong characterization and builds tension with not knowing who to trust, as well as slowly building the anxiety as characters never get the full truth from loved ones. SPEAK FREELY rose to the top of 20 out of 250 plays and we hope this play swiftly finds opportunities to reach new audiences.

During the most intense years of the cold war, a young Jewish couple struggles with their career and family ambitions, as well as where they “fit in” in society. Their world is complicated when FBI agents ask to use the basement of their apartment to observe the neighbors. This fast-paced play is compelling and explores interesting thematic questions: How far will you go to get what you want? What will you forgive in others and in yourself? Well done.

Jewish Plays Project is thrilled that SPEAK FREELY was a Semi-Finalist for the 10th annual Jewish Plays Contest. Our Semi-Finalists went through a rigorous process in the summer & fall of 2020 where a community of readers searched for plays that spoke to them about Jewish identity in a way that’s bold and challenging, as well as theatrically innovative. After reading 250 plays, SPEAK FREELY rose to the top 20, and we hope that this play swiftly finds collaborators and opportunities to reach new audiences.

A beautifully constructed play, Speak Freely sets an exciting plot in motion in the first moments, proceeds to build great suspense, and draws to a completely satisfying conclusion. The characters are richly imagined, offering pschologically and morally complex roles for accomplished actors. By centering Shirley, the young immigrant woman, the playwright opens new perspectives on the McCarthy era. #BAPF2021

It has been a pleasure to work as a dramaturg on this script that takes a deep look at the United States during the McCarthy era from the pov of several generations of an East Coast Jewish family to make us all aware of the tenuous state of our democracy. There are also some wonderful roles for women! I find the play to be increasingly relevant and chilling, and I hope it will be produced soon on many stages.