←Recommendations of Barn Wood and Blue Roses (ONE ACT VERSION)

Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn has written a beautiful, fanciful play about two friends, and how they deal with her illness. It's such a wonderful way that these characters create an alternate world of fantasy to help cope with the all too serious illness that is slowly and relentlessly strangling this young girl. Brava. What an amazing play. Poignant and thought provoking.

JACQUELYN FLOYD-PRISKORN takes us on a wonderful journey in which we learn much and enjoy immensely a beautifully written play. “Barn Wood and Blue Roses” is a play with depth (dealing with cystic fibrosis) but with a flair of a brilliant way of presenting it. Bravo!

There is so much to love about this clever play and the vivid characters in it. The fantasy framework is a wonderful vehicle to explore cystic fibrosis, drugs, and abuse - and it’s done in such a fun, engaging, witty, and heartfelt way that I have to admit I wanted more when I finished reading. I would literally sit through a three-hour version of this if that existed.

Barn Wood and Blue Roses is a play full of incredible opportunities from the imaginative design possibilities to the chance to discuss a wide range of difficult topics children often have to face in silence. Floyd-Priskorn's piece is full of charm not only in its characters but in its dream-like use of fantasy and flashback that perfectly mimics make-believe games we all played when we were young.

I will add my voice to the chorus not demanding a full-length version, per se, but saying Floyd-Priskorn has outdone herself, and we want more. Thankfully, the bite-size length here is perfect for schools and younger audiences, and is a story that is beautiful, hopeful, heartbreaking, doesn't talk down, and truly brilliant in how it meshes "reality" with the world L'Sea and D'Nova conjure up. The characters are fully drawn and wonderfully charismatic, whether making magic or irreverently breaking the fourth wall. I'm hard pressed to think of a play people would have more fun with, in any capacity.

This play is beautiful! I didn't want it to end - I would love to see a full length version of Chelsea and Devon protecting each other from reality. I also loved the banter between Chelsea and her mom when they broke from the story to comment or talk to the audience. I adored the fantasy world Devon created, and it was heartbreaking to see real life break through into it. What a fabulous piece for young actors to shine in!

Stunning work. I want it to be a full-length play sooo badly! But this will have to be enough for now. It is theatrical and important and helps us understand disability and the greater fragility of life itself in the most beautiful ways! The language, the imagination, the characters, the situation, the fabulous as in fabled way the story is told... Get this to a stage now!

I was drawn into Chelsea’s story after a few lines of reading. As the story progressed, I realized this was much more than one person’s journey and struggles, but a very complex world of connections, friendships, laughter, pain and hope. With a healthy dose of reality mixed with elements of fantasy, this story has gripped my cast and brought out tons of creativity on their part, with staging, set, choreography, costumes and character. We chose this piece for our high school theatre state festival coming up mid October. Can’t wait to bring this story to the stage!

I was drawn into Chelsea’s story after a few lines of reading. As the story progressed, I realized this was much more than one person’s journey and struggles, but a very complex world of connections, friendships, laughter, pain and hope. With a healthy dose of reality mixed with elements of fantasy, this story has gripped my cast and brought out tons of creativity on their part, with staging, set, choreography, costumes and character. We chose this piece for our high school theatre state festival coming up mid October. Can’t wait to bring this story to the stage!

This was featured on the home page today. Let me say, it well deserves that. I've no interest in spoiling what happens, but Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn builds a world of such warmth that a sort of hope makes you forget about the tragedy tag. It's the warmth that brings the chills as the end rolls in. It's the warmth that doesn't kill hope when the play ends. Hope is still there, somehow. Fantasy and reality blend majestically. Sometimes you read a show and think, "I must direct this one day." It's beautiful. And the images it gave me are beautiful too.