←Recommendations of sorry sorry okay sorry

I was sad to miss this at the Valdez Theatre Conference and glad to find it here instead. What a solid, affecting, nuanced play. The characters are all relatable and believable, the situation is expertly crafted, and the naturalistic language is wonderful, from the therapy jargon through the expertly placed pauses and interruptions. What these characters go through is all terribly real, and all really terrible.

I'm so happy I got to see this play as part of the 2023 Valdez Theater Conference, though now I realize that "happy" is a misleading word because this play is so beautifully devastatingly sad. There is so much impressive writing here that hit me right in the guts and bones. All three characters are so well-written, with such smart detail and humor and honesty. Really fantastic, heart-breaking/opening work. This plays makes me want to hug everything I love for as long as I can.

I rarely cry at plays, but the ending of this play hit me like a truck when I heard it read aloud. What a fantastic (and hilarious) (and gut wrenching) portrait of grief, solitude, miscommunication... as someone who has lost a parent, this was such a healing piece to see.

Communication is challenging under normal circumstances, but when someone is dealing with grief it can be difficult for others to find the words, or to know if any words are appropriate. In TRYHARD, Emily Elyse Everett presents a socially awkward situation where the three main characters struggle to communicate. Everett’s natural dialogue is breathtaking. She manages to convey so much humor and character insight simply through brief utterances, half-spoken thoughts, and pauses. Completely engrossing right through to the very moving climax.

few plays will engulf you completely and totally like everett's tryhard. the complexities of grief are expertly written with snappy dialogue and carefully crafted moments of cringe that only two old friends and an out-of-place partner could experience. the raw humanness of this play makes it a must read.

Everything about this play works, from the details dropped in anecdotes from the characters' histories that just devastate you, to the overall arc of a complicated friendship between two well-crafted women. Everett has an exquisite grasp on the pain of grief from multiple angles, but substantial moments of humor and love keep it hopeful. This play is a cathartic experience that I have a feeling we'll be seeing as a mainstay in theatres across the country soon -- and that day can't come soon enough for me as an audience member.

I had the pleasure of viewing a reading of “sorry sorry okay sorry” (formerly "Tryhard") at the Valdez Theatre Conference, and not to be vulgar from the jump, but this play kicked my ass. Emily Elyse Everett strikes a deft balance between moments of gut-busting laughter -- often tied to her masterful skewering of 'hyper-therapized' communication styles -- and an undercurrent of intense tragedy. I am not exaggerating when I say this play's climax devastated me, in the best way. I can't wait for more audiences to get to know Clementine, Clancy, and David.

This play is a marvel. A piece that simultaneously devastates and elicits hearty laughs, this play touches beautifully on the universality of loss, grief, friendship, and change. It grapples with these difficult topics in masterful turns, moving from scene to scene in perfect pacing, while allowing the audience to sit with the characters as they come to grips with their own tragedies. Everett is a master of timing and language in that way, not only painting a stunning world, but also illustrating the deeper emotions we try to bury. I cannot recommend this play enough.

An astonishingly assured piece of work, both bitingly funny and devastating beyond belief. Everett is a master of dialogue, her characters managing to accidentally eviscerate each other to a gasp-inducing degree through the very language of psychological healing and conflict avoidance. (And I mean inducing literal gasps - this play does a number on an audience!) And in her portrayal of young adults shaped by unthinkable trauma, whose lives are further complicated as their coping strategies keep backfiring, she comes pretty damn close to Voice of a Generation territory.

SSOS is a marvel, toggling effortlessly between laugh-out-loud moments of cringe comedy and devastating, soul-baring truth. Incisively skewering therapy-speak, the vocabulary of “healthy communication” and the barriers they place between people trying to truly connect, SSOS investigates how to talk to each other, and more importantly, what to say. Emily Everett’s revealing dialogue gradually exposes her characters’ neuroses, defenses, pretensions, fears, and deepest longings while remaining snappy and naturalistic. I’m thrilled to have had the privilege to see a reading of this play; I’ll be first in line for tickets for the inevitable, well-deserved first production.