←Recommendations of Occupied

What a awesome play! It brilliantly captures the struggles with safety and identity. Through the intimate lens of female friendship, that spans two decades, punctuated by historical tragedies. The characters Jac and Amelia, with their raw vulnerability and humor, offer a powerful reflection on the question of security in an ever-changing world. Kantor’s writing is both evocative and insightful, making “OCCUPIED” a piece for our times.

Aly Kantor has written an incredible coming of age story for a generation that has always had to keep one eye open at all times. Through various scenes throughout the course of their lives, we get to watch these characters grow and try to make sense of the seemingly never ending chaos happening outside of the "safety" of heir bathroom stalls.

A simple but unique set and simple concept - yet still stunningly theatrical. The poetic relationship of two life-long friends defining the age of their development, OCCUPIED hits all the right emotional notes. Aly Kantor has created art relevant for our times and yet, if fear of the unknown and the unexpected is a defining aspect of humanity, then perhaps this is timeless. I laughed, and cried without knowing why and I wanted to give the world a hug. I would love to see this staged. Magnificent.

I don’t know who challenged Aly Kantor to write a compelling play set entirely in a series of restrooms, but she pulled it off splendidly. This would be an amazing opportunity for two young actresses to showcase their talents as their characters grow and become increasingly aware of the often frightening world outside the haven of the bathroom stalls.

The setting and the events of this play are all too familiar, but watching Jac and Amelia live through these events hits hard. I wish I had a friendship like Jac and Amelia's that witnessed the world and its massive changes along with our own smaller, but just as massive life changes. This feels very real because it IS very real. Gone are the days when the news was just weather and boring stuff. Every day the news is shaping the world our young people live in. This is so powerful.

So much happens in bathrooms... Love the concept of this play set in what's typically a private, "safe" space, unless you live in America and attend school. This play follows a loss of innocence that's eventually replaced by a kind of numbness and desensitization of violence and terrorism. Growing up is scary.


Very funny. Horrifying also. An atrocity exhibition disguised as a character study. Most of the scenes take place after culture-defining moments of political violence. But the characters are eerily disaffected. Zizek said that 9/11 wasn’t a wake up call snapping up us into reality, but the killing off of reality, forever condemning us to the virtual world. Kantor’s play captures the hell of growing up at the end of history. Welcome to the desert of the real. The twin towers are living on a farm upstate. Does that stranger have a gun? I'll see you in the bathroom...

Enough has been said about the concept, enough to make Caryl Churchill proud, so, what I'd like to continue to highlight is Kantor's gift for dialogue. The natural rhythms and idiosyncratic touches that are so common and peculiar to millennial speech. Children of the 90s these are (whom I identify with), as can be seen within Amelia's and Jac's, like, innocent exaggerations, down from the descriptions of class curriculum to the remnants of a nihilism that almost never existed. Living in America is a strange occupation, because you cannot run away from political life. You sign up for it here.

I have to echo what others have said about OCCUPIED… Wow! Brilliant! Aly Kantor has set this story of BFFs in various bathrooms, a concept that maybe sounds strange, is certainly unique, and completely perfect. A refuge from the chaos outside where confidences can be shared. I think one day people will study this play as essential to understanding early 21st century America. But don’t wait! Read it now! Produce it now!

Wow! What a great concept really beautifully executed. A moving play about millenial relationships to safety from 9/11 forward with characters that I truly care for and root for! I also found a great deal of agency in these two characters. And the prescient comments about arming teachers? Love how our movement through time is so well crafted. Not just wow, great work!