←Recommendations of You Enter the Tavern

As someone who enjoys playing D&D and other TTRPGS, reading this play was a real treat! The framework of the D&D campaign is a wonderful vehicle for the characters to explore, collide, and connect. It shows us not only who these wonderfully messy and charming characters are, but also who they aspire to be. Each is relatable through their struggles and their triumphs, with their own distinct voice and arc. I would love to see them brought to life on stage in a full production.

I. LOVE. THIS. I love the premise, I love the utterly engrossing characters, I love the thought of using a DND group as an AA meeting...this is ripe with extremely well rendered characters and is such a thoughtful and incredibly important lens to look at what recovery really means. PRODUCE THIS! PRODUCE IT! I know I would (and hopefully will someday.)

We are the people we pretend to be; if we need to heal ourselves, a crucial first step is changing the story we tell ourselves about who we are. Aly Kantor has fashioned a hilarious and heartfelt demonstration of this with YOU ENTER THE TAVERN, in which five magnificently messy women - recovering addicts all - navigate the mix of drama therapy, temptation, and general reprobate behavior that is their weekly D&D game. Wonderful work - and "agnostic paladin" is a great character concept!

WOW! I was totally knocked out by this! I was a DM back in college (manymanyyears ago) and I've missed DnD. I thought this would be a weird adaptation of an epic game - but I was so pleased to find life inside the characters and life inside the players. This was extremely well written and thought out. Wonderful plot line and super terrific characters. BRAVA!!!!!

Aly Kantor rolls a 20 with You Enter the Tavern! Her characters display strength and vulnerability in turns as they struggle to navigate a world full of pitfalls where a slide into self-destruction is as close as the neighborhood watering hole.

With superbly well-layered characters, touching drama, and even a dream ballet (I'm a sucker for a good dream ballet), this show demands to be produced!

DnDer that I am, I was initially drawn in by that "gimmick." However, happily, this play is way more than that. DnD provides an excellent framework, to be sure, to explore the lives of these five characters and get drawn up in their histories, their struggles, and their eventual triumphs. The structure of the work perhaps keeps you on your toes at times, but in the end, you're left with a wonderful character study that not only says quite a bit about addiction and recovery but also friendship and what we make of it. An excellent play!

Aly Kantor hits all the right emotional notes with YOU ENTER THE TAVERN. Real, relatable characters connect, suffer and heal through role-playing. Each scene reveals a bit more about one character or the other - including one potent revelation concerning a character’s name of choice in the game. Touching and powerful - this play is a joy to read. Natural dialogue with some audition-worthy monologues make this an actor’s dream. This excellent play deserves to be staged. Absolutely loved this play!

I love this! I don't know a thing about DnD (other than what I've learned from this play and its one-act predecessor, Adventurers Anonymous), but background knowledge really isn't a prerequisite to enjoy this story of five women in recovery who gather weekly for a DnD campaign. I love the complexity of the characters as they slowly peel back their layers and wrestle with their own demons, as well as the fact that the story can - and often does - turn from hilarious to heartbreaking on a dime.

Sometimes you read a play & it just feels like...magic. That's this play. Kantor has a skill for creating memorable characters who are charming, yet real. That's what makes this piece so special; while each party member has her own side-quest, together they are a perfect team of misfits who lean on each other as they slay life's monsters. I also want to point out that this play gives due representation to queer identities that are usually ignored. Claps.
Witty dialogue, strong female roles, chosen family, magic within the mundane... I'm obsessed with this play & you should be too.

I knew Aly Kantor was expanding her exceptional "Adventurers Anonymous," so while my bias might be unavoidable, roleplay the character, not the person. This is a goddamn TERRIFIC play. Stop reading this rec right now and just read the play.

Seriously. You're first in the turn order. Go.

You need more convincing? Kantor is an experienced DM. Each of her roles are distinct, layered, and fun, and beautifully navigate us through this tale of struggle, self-discovery, and overcoming trauma. Life isn't just about finding your party, it's about being a part of it, through everything. One session at a time.