Absolutely riveting, sometimes confounding (in a good way!), stirringly moving, eerily sexy, unsettling and suspenseful.

I have questions! And I enjoy pondering them. More than once, they play presents conflicting versions of events from urban legends to intimate memories that may or may not have been shared, to death in close quarters.

Larson instantly puts us in 1989 with the beloved “you never heard about these killings?” horror movie trope, and takes us on a ride from there, playing with time, tone, and a Styx t-shirt!

An exquisite, horrifying, beautiful puzzle of a play!

For those of us of a certain age, the reminder of the ravages of the AIDS epidemic isn't history; it's the lives and losses of friends, lovers, and none of them with grace, but horror. In Leif Larson's story, the desperation of the plague drives the characters to the extremes. I wept as I watched this reading at the Valdez Theatre Conference in 2023 not only for his riveting story that pulled no punches without using the dreaded tropes, but knowing that behind this drama, there were lives and loves lost because of hate, ignorance, and bigotry.

This play struck, like, 5 chords in me. 'Shake the Disease' is a beautiful (and terrifying) example of queer mythology. The structure of the play itself is cause enough for praise: time contorts itself to fit this multi-generational tale. This play not only draws attention to queer history, but forces you to live it, witness it, acknowledge it.