←Recommendations of Abstracted

This short play is quite tender. The little clues hidden in the dialogue about who these characters is a treat to find while reading. This is a lovely short play to have at any one-act festival.

Thoughtful, tender, and quietly surprising, Abstracted turns a debate over art into something far more personal. Gibbs crafts a compelling two-hander about interpretation, regret, and the meanings we find when we finally look beneath the surface.

Abstract/non-representative art is not for everyone. It forces you to draw meaning from shape and color rather than form. When college student Paige finds herself locked in her university's gallery afterhours with a man who appears to be far outside of his natural habitat, her first inclination is to try to help him "understand" what he seems to be missing - only to discover that some are searching for answers that lie beyond acrylic on canvas. A gently profound short play about regret and loss.

A smart piece with a vivid lead character with a strong undercurrent of sadness throughout it. Compelling work.

For me, there is something truly magical in sitting in a theater watching a play - or just reading a play - in which two unpretentious people are engaged in that act of conversation. "Abstracted" is a short, incisive piece that fills the heart and fires the mind. Read the play and stay with it all the way through - the kick is in the ending!