←Recommendations of INFERNA

A courageous and moving piece of art. Miller brilliantly tells a story that so many of us need to hear.

A beautiful piece that demonstrates how evangelical Christianity as well as patriarchal theatrical spaces can be hotbeds of abuse, without going down the doom and gloom route. This feminist work has such a consistent message of hope in the face of a world that often tells anyone who isn't a cis white man to sit down and shut up. INFERNA is a great example of impactful autobiographical work, and shows that not all one-person shows have to only have one actor! I would love to see this on stage one day.

INFERNA is a beautiful and moving show that illustrates the similarities and differences between religion and theater - and examines why abuse and victimization can be so prevalent in both.

It manages to navigate heavy topics with humor and heart so you leave feeling hopeful despite the harsh truths and realities in this piece. I can't recommend it enough.

If you like one person shows, you'll like this piece. If you hate one person shows, you'll like this piece. It's that good.

INFERNA uses great theatricality, physical comedy, and one-of-a-kind characters to examine the ways in which abusive structures live inside the theatrical canon and field.

The play, which in part follows Joanna through her youth theater career, illustrates how religious and conservative values and sexism find their way into theater.

But what most sticks with me about INFERNA is that it’s damn funny, with a warm, silly relationship between narrative and audience. The final minutes, which dramatize what a reconciliation between young women impacted by the same terrible theater man might look like, are both hopeful and chilling.

A truly funny and touching piece that interweaves the personal and socio-political beautifully. The play uses "What the Constitution Means to Me" and "How I Learned to Drive" as clear sources of inspiration, but the metatheatrical way in which Castle Miller wrestles with both the process and the role of playwright injects further tension and humor. "Inferna" explores what it means to be victimized oneself and complicit in the victimization of others, and reckons with the hard truth that those you've hurt are not obligated to forgive you just because someone else hurt them more.

A powerful, intimate, and sharp piece about abuse, the ways women and femme identifying folks are harmed in theatrical and spiritual places, the ways society pits women against one another, and the intersection of religion/art/more. Joanna's testimony of her unsettling, abusive relationship with Jack and how it impacted her as a teenager and later is so nuanced, complex, and vulnerable. The dark and complicated themes are also balanced out with a dose of wry, sharp comedy that uses absurdity and observation to put into stark relief the difficult events addressed here. Read and produce!

I had the privilege to see this play read at the 2022 Valdez Theatre Conference. It is a funny and poignant work of storytelling as it contrasts the demanding spaces of religion and theatre. Miller takes you on a deeply personal journey that makes you reflect on your own past experiences in new light. There is no easy ending, and that is not shied away from. Instead as the audience you are meant to sit with the feeling too and acknowledge how you may have contributed to it. I could not recommend it enough.

We are awash in stories in this culture, told to us since childhood, with the capacity to cause incredible harm if we don't stop and examine them; it's easy for "enlightened" theatre folk to think that their stories are somehow exempt from the issues of religious stories (and vice versa). Joanna Castle Miller knows better, and her own story, by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, is an unsparing look at the myths we tell ourselves, how they can curdle into delusion, and how to bring honesty back into our lives. Vivid and visceral.

I had the privilege of watching this play during the 2022 Valdez Theater Conference and there is so much about it that I found to be powerful, honest, brave, and theatrically exciting. Castle Miller is telling a difficult story in a creative way, structuring her play in a way that makes it feel appropriately intimate, devastating, and, despite everything, often very humorous. Really excellent story-telling here and a story that needs to be heard.

This is a play that must be witnessed and deserves a stage. Peeling away layers of contradiction, Miller leans into her truth and has you questioning your own. An innovative performance piece I'm still thinking about, days after witnessing a reading beautifully performed by the playwright at the Valdez Theatre Conference.