←Recommendations of Art Duty

Daniel Prillaman’s play gets at something ineffable and central to the human condition. Wildly inventive, Roman-candle-esque - and yet contained, thematically focused - an elusive and mystical running joke, somehow both deep and witty, protean yet fixed, deeply disturbing and reassuring, death and life-affirming, a genius eye-patch routine, astonishing characters like Critic 1, a phone-call monologue I envy, many great absurdist lines, the slyly oxymoronic title. ART DUTY is the thing! [5-25-26]

"I will cherish this memory until I forget it." Ha!

Even if absurdism isn't your jam, Daniel Prillaman peppers Art Duty with enough witticisms to make it well worth a read.

Do yourself a favor and read this play! Daniel Prillaman masterfully poses philosophical questions under the guise of absurdity, and these dialogues that blend humor with desperation. It's funny and, at the same time, it's sharp to its core. I read three times Critic's 1 monologue. Hilarious!

This is a very funny play. Wonderfully deadpan. Beautiful setting. Thought-provoking.

Prillaman has a gift for naturalistic dialogue and spinning an absurd, engaging story from something as mundane as standing guard over a piece of art. There’s so much to love about this play. It’s funny. It’s thought-provoking. It’s brilliant.

Absolutely hilarious- ART DUTY is a masterful take on where society is heading. I could watch these characters interact with each other all day.

I am a fan of Art.
Prillaman has made me a fan of those who guard it.
Art Duty is a terrific piece that explores every facet of craving nonexistence as well as being comfortable in the not knowing.
I cannot wait to see it on its feet.

Darkly comic and absurd, Art Duty is a dystopian play that asks big questions while being genuinely funny. This play is full of darkly comic, oh-my-god-should-I-be-laughing moments. I'd love to see this produced!

Daniel Prillaman provides plenty of laughs in this absurdist, dystopian work. But the comedy belies the deeper questions addressed related to how we value art, human life, and our roles in society. The tension between the two security guards, sometimes comic sometimes menacing, is heightened further with the introduction of each new character. Brilliant writing! This play needs to be put on its feet!

Art Duty ricochets between the worth of Art in an endless dystopian, flat-concrete void, to genuinely side-splitting morbid humor and tense quips about taboos that are no longer taboo. Prillaman expertly navigates the questions asked about the worth of Art and life without answering them. Like any good Art, you don't always need to know.

In particular: Critic #1's monologue, the parallels between Asher/Bellamy and Tobin/Leopold, and the guards themselves resigned to their duty in the Plaza around increasing absurdity immersed me in a world that reminded me of how much we do affect one another after all.