←Recommendations of OCCUPIED

Kantor has brilliantly crafted a play where a setting can mean so many different things while also staying exactly the same. I loved how this play explores so many different tragedies and how it impacts these characters. This is a play that will require a lot from actors but it would be so rewarding to create such a moving piece of theatre. I loved watching these women grow. I loved how much we are able to fill in information from their lives with just their dialogue. There is no time for exposition here and I am all for it.

The first scene of Occupied sucked me in, and it wasn’t just Aly Kantor’s gift for authentic dialogue (which is amazing!), but the all threads she weaves into the conversation between Amelia and Jac – the seemingly mundane topics that engage them, the depth of their relationship, the social and political events of the day, the unique setting in bathroom stalls, and the serious questions raised. This play is thoroughly engaging, thought-provoking, funny, and heart-breaking. Occupied is brilliant!

Towards the end of Aly Kantor's fine play "Occupied," one of two best friends expresses the wish that "something exciting will happen in her lifetime." Over nearly twenty years of friendship, Jac and Amelia live through the most tumultuous and earth-shattering events of the twenty-first century. Kantor smartly keeps these events on the periphery, dedicating most of her script to the friendship of two women, with several doses of humor, character, and spot-on dialogue. Lovely play!

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...