←Recommendations of Dirty Laundry

This play is a reminder that traditional structure and format are not the right choice for every story told upon a stage. The very nature and emotional life of the characters is translated not only through their dialogue with each other and the chorus's comments upon it, but through how the text is laid out. Dratwa is brutally honest and vulnerable in this piece, voicing a lot of the inner thoughts of those of us who have grieved someone or something very deeply. A healing piece, indeed.

Really loved this play. Me and her father have such an authentic relationship as they deal with issues like loss and betrayal. Loved the use of the chorus and how they moved the play along. This play has a really great ending that refuses to tie things up neatly. It's a well-earned ending that is filled with truth.

This is a fantastic play. Heartbreaking, funny, gorgeously structured and brutally honest in its depiction of death, grief and motherhood. Would love to see this fully realized on stage. Brava!

I heard someone say that Mathilde Dratwa writes about the things we aren't supposed to talk about. In Dirty Laundry, two of those topics, grief and infidelity, are jumping off points for so much more. Dratwa frankly depicts the pain and ugliness--physical and emotional--that accompany the dying, the dead, and those they leave to mourn them. Yet, even as it refuses to shy away from the painful, ugly facts of life and death, the play is an act of grace and a thing of beauty.

An absolutely beautiful and human exploration of grief, loss, family, inherited and learned behaviors and coping mechanisms. It is also *extremely* funny, and I love a play that will make me alternate laughing and crying! I can totally see how well this would work as an audio play--especially the chorus. That said, it would be super compelling fully staged as well. By the end of the piece, I felt well acquainted with the family portrayed and appreciated how they were rendered--warts and all--seemingly without judgment because of the narrative self awareness of the messiness of family, love, and loneliness.

I just watched an online reading of this wonderful play with The Playwrights' Center. There was so much musicality in the language. I loved the way the chorus was used at times to narrate, clarify, emphasize, or reveal what lay beneath the surface of the various characters in this complex family drama. A great story that held my interest throughout.

A deeply personal and beautifully moving play with a chorus! And I love a chorus and how they function in this play! I also love how difficult it is for the characters to communicate, how complex the grief is and the shifts in all the relationships as they navigate their losses. Wonderful work!

As a National Committee Reader for the BAPF 2022, Dirty Laundry was a delight to experience! Dratwa has deftly woven a story about loss and moving on. A daughter not only is helping her father navigate life without her mother (there is a delightful scene where she is trying to explain how to do laundry over the phone), but also dealing with the revelation of her father's longtime affair. A chorus effortlessly strings the story together with lush, sometimes cringeworthy, descriptions, and humor. With wonderful dialogue for actors to sink their teeth into, I highly recommend this gem. #BAPF2022