←Recommendations of Human Resources

This is a wonderful play about finding human connection in the most unlikely place—the workplace. Hirsch does a fantastic job depicting the mundane nature of office work, while keeping the storytelling full of excitement, humor, and tension as the protagonists go from being office mates to friends. Human Resources shows the acts of service we perform for each other to feel alive and make life meaningful.

A beautiful and unique look at forming human connections in an inhumane environment that encompasses matters of real life and death, of loss and betrayal, of mercy and decency. Alan and Kate are rich and complex characters and it is heartening to watch their relationship evolve. Even Justin, the slimeball CEO who is truly only out for himself, is vividly drawn. The commentary on corporate culture inherent in the narrative is trenchant and biting. This is a rich script working successfully on so many levels.

HR dives headfirst into the “what-is-the-point” question at the heart of late-capitalist corporate culture, but does so with a tender, humanistic patience. I love the opportunity this script gives to develop a kind of non-romantic intimacy rarely seen onstage. A cathartic, ultimately hopeful glimpse into the inner anxieties and aspirations of your average colleague.

Loved reading this play with Red Theater's Script Club. It inspired so many great observations of office culture. It was so fun watching the familiar personal barriers that you will find in a typical office break down. I would even say it was cathartic for me, having worked in so many cold office environments and realizing that I never knew my coworkers. Funny, Surprising, and relatable!

This play is a beautiful look at meaningful connection between people stuck in an environment designed to keep connection as surface level as possible. What does it look like when people allow themselves to actually look at the people that they have as work colleagues? How do we stay connected when so much (sickness, shame, guilt, ambition) seems to ask us to put up a wall? The slowly growing intimacy between Kate and Alan portrays the awkward dance of being surprised by wanting to share ourselves with another person beautifully.

A play about people breaking through the surface of banal office chatter, which just finds deeper and deeper layers as it goes. Grounded by two supremely relatable and human characters, it's a story that will resonate with anyone who has tried to make real connections in an environment designed to prevent them. Excited to see how this play can grow in performance.

I had the great pleasure of dramaturging HUMAN RESOURCES for the 2021 Great Plains Theatre Conference. This smart, engaging, opposites-attract play showcases a relationship not often glamorized onstage - coworkers whose proximity breeds care. And, in doing so during this time of social isolation, the play almost makes one nostalgic for the office. The writing is spare, specific, and very funny.

This play is so good. Funny, surprising, attentive to language, super spatially specific, at times bracingly tender. Hirsch crafts two difficult but deeply sympathetic characters, moves them through the lonesome rhythms of their office routines, gets us to laugh with them, and keeps us invested (and laughing) as we move into increasingly grim territory. A total gift of an office play; a clear, clever critique of techno-capitalism, and of our relationship to work.

"Human Resources" is a precise and tender portrait of an unlikely friendship. The play explores the monotony of office life, the power of connection, and how we make friends, find meaning, and try to grapple with death... while also including an awesomely fun and touching dance number. It's a profoundly subtle play. This is one I have returned to again and again as a reader and cannot wait to see live.

I recently tuned in for the Great Plains Theatre Conference online reading of this play and I just loved it! Seeing an unlikely friendship blossom between two coworkers thrown together by chance is so profoundly rewarding as an audience member and feels so special and familiar at the same time. Hirsch captures all the absurdity and banality of a dead end office job without ever getting cynical or letting us forget the emotional depth of the two main characters. HUMAN RESOURCES is a beautiful piece of writing I would love to see staged!