←Recommendations of 5

I love this play. The characters are so rich and complex and the script takes such care to make sure that the audience - even if they may vehemently disagree with the choices made - fully understands where each character is coming from. That care is also evident in the way macro themes like gentrification and the nature of trust are expertly woven into a hyper-personal and compelling story.

“5” is a fantastic play that explores the challenges faced by two childhood friends running a family business against the backdrop of encroaching gentrification. I love the magical realism elements and how each character is given a complex set of motivations. Even if it’s hard to side with the characters, we understand what’s driving their actions, which makes the play super compelling.

This is my second encounter with JuCoby's writing, and I can't wait to read more. Each of 5's characters is real, appealing, provocative, believable. I could listen to them talk and watch them interact in their world for hours. JuCoby is clearly interested in themes of love, reconciliation, legacy, and time, and weaves narrative through those with a graceful intention. Would LOVE to see the "magical" elements of this one come to life on stage. A place for Right Now, if there ever was one.

A script with a unique balance between intensely contemporary and structurally classical, with rich character relationships that intersect at precisely the points that make for thrilling emotional conflict. The play, for all its moralizing, never argues that anyone's beliefs are "wrong" – all are flawed, in ways that different audience members will forgive, for their own reasons. Epic in scope, in scale, in depth, and in the sharpness of its gaze.

A really moving play about the complexities of chosen family and gentrification. Killer dialogue and stunning imagery makes up this truly unique theatrical experience. Really hope to see this play produced soon.

An effective and delightful horror that uses the eerie prophecies of Christian myth to its advantage to discuss the quiet violence of gentrification and the systemic racism that allows it. Evan and Jay's friendship was so incredibly moving, and Walter had my heart from the first page (yes, even when he was spouting off scripture). I felt so deeply for Stacy as well, which made her villainy all the more heartbreaking. Truly loved this play, and hope to see it staged!

I saw this play in previews at Jungle Theater in Minneapolis and thoroughly enjoyed it as a complex emotional and intellectual experience. The production was funny, moving, surprising, and thought-provoking. In reading the script, I especially appreciated the supernatural world-building of the stage directions and the aesthetic background of the recommended music selections. Depicting the co-owners of a convenience store as they struggle with gentrification amid signs of the apocalypse, the play uses a small-scale setting to grapple with large-scale questions. What do we do in the face of the inevitable?

Wow. This play is so gorgeously messy and heartfelt. The relationships are so complex and real. I love the Biblical/magical moments that just amplify this story and the message. I'd love to see a production of this show because it reads so beautifully on the page

Superb piece that tells a gorgeously rendered, human story amplified with moments of high theatricality and some potent and powerful metaphors and stage images of biblical proportions. Johnson manages to explore huge themes of privilege, race, gentrification, found and blood family, legacy, and much more with his microscopic focus on the relationship between Jay and Evan. All the characters are compelling beyond those two, however, especially Stacy who is so awesomely empathetic and antagonistic all at once. I hope to see this on its feet sometime soon!