I love The Golden Loc, which I was fortunate to see at The Purple Crayon Players New Work Festival. Prentiss’s play is exciting and moving, with a compelling story, high stakes, and characters we deeply care about. The relationship between Zia and her mother is especially beautiful, and the world building throughout the play is remarkable. At the performance I saw, the audience of children and adults was riveted.

I recently produced The Golden Loc in a festival of new plays for young audiences at Northwestern University. The play was an incredible opportunity for our campus and local community; the representation this show offers is unique and important, and it was such a joy to get to bring this all-female, all-black production to college students and families alike. Prentiss is an incredible collaborator, and I can't wait to see where else he takes this heartwarming new play.

I had the pleasure of attending a reading of this piece and I found the world-building to be rich and steeped in metaphor. Prentiss achieved that with dexterity and musicality in the dialogue. We don't have enough original fantasy pieces for young audiences, and it's a narrative genre that is so essential to the development of a love for storytelling. Kudos!