←Recommendations of The Last Spin Cycle

An absolutely remarkable play. Beautiful stage moments that I'm dying to see performed one day. The relationship between Caraway and Meadowlark is wonderfully written, and the story will leave audiences thinking well after they return home from the performance of this piece.

It's absurd, it's fantastical, it's unsettling, it's sad, and also very funny. You don't have to understand the world of this play to be entertained, amused, and moved by it. Who are these eccentrically-named and -costumed characters? How did they get here? And why? You won't find answers, but you will find high stakes, smartly-executed lazzi, and a tremendous lot of heart.

When you have no answers for your questions, only wanderings and dreams, where does your mind go? The show has a rich and dark world we only see glimpses of. We do not know for what the doctors are imprisoned, if it is just, and if they are even decent people. And none of that matters. In the end, we are all people. All lonely and scared. All longing for something, looking for a brighter future. How do we create hope when we are hopeless? How do we bring the people we've lost with us? This a lovely, haunting show.

This was exquisite.

It’s amazing how much empathy, heart, and pathos emerges from two strangers stuck in what appears to be a makeshift holding cell (a dilapidated laundry room) in a theatrical limbo that’s clearly connected to a harsh otherworld.

We don’t know specifically how these plague doctors have disgraced themselves, nor does it matter. This is about the now. And how to bring the beauty of What Could Have Been into the ugliness of What Is. A comical attempt to carve a name leads to much grander dreaming.

The payoff is sublimely powerful and haunting.

Had the great privilege of seeing this performed at the John DeSotelle Studio in New York. A beautiful, strange, heartbreaking little play, timeless and timely all at once. Hannah has a truly singular voice, and I can’t wait to experience more of her work.

The strict, cult-like world of DeFrates' "Lost Children" Universe somehow manages to produce some colorful, wholly unique characters - all of whom struggle against the chains that bind them to their unconventional lifestyle, sometimes literally. This piece introduces us to two characters at the end of the line and, ostensibly, the end of their lives, exploring regrets and missed opportunities through a sad, hopeful roleplay scenario. It's a lovely meditation about the things we do when there's nothing left to do - the ways we continuously cycle through life, creating and finding meaning, even at the end of the world.

The audience will be caught up in this short play's darkly comic cycle (pun intended). DeFrates creates a sense of timelessness, nothingness and yet everythingness. It's absurd and realistic all at once. A snapshot of the times that have been, times that are and a future that might very well be. Some great imagery.
"CARAWAY. It is the beach. A beautiful, tropical island. Feel the warmth? Smell the soft breeze?...
(The two stop to observe the humidity of the room [...] They sniff the air, catching whiffs of laundry detergent)..." Brava!

The World building in this short play is so distinct and terrifying yet the characters we meet are so desperate for the mundane moments of life they will never get to experience. So they share them together in quick symbolic succession in such a sweet way. Very sad and reminiscent of a classic Twilight Zone episode

From the opening stage directions Hannah places a vision in your mind of the dank and darkness that creates the piece. From there you spiral through a series of wonderfully constructed images starting with the frustration of the two doctors trapped in each others company (with their frustrating habits). However, despite being trapped in this bleak situation, there still remains the ability within the characters to have a glimmer of hope as they create a means of escape between them. This is a wonderful piece that comes with waves of various emotions that will invoke your own imagination!

Two doctors held prisoner in an old laundromat. Only the sounds of the washers and dryers to mark the passage of time. At first, the conversation doesn’t come easily. But then as one character becomes more willing to open up, the mood lightens, the two doctors seem to bond in a comical way, and then the dryer completes its cycle. A dark comedy filled with haunting imagery, witty dialogue, and a constant sense of foreboding. There should be at least 99 recommendations on Hannah Lee DeFrates’ wall for this excellent play!