←Recommendations of Backyard Stonehenge

I’d love to see this tender love story on stage. Playwright Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn has created a bittersweet gem that's at once gentle and intimate, funny and theatrical. Set design, staging, and physical comedy possibilities are delicious. TJ and Kendra put in the physical and emotional work to repair a rough patch in their marriage; TJ’s mini henge makes a monumental task more manageable. The ending took me from a sweet, “Aww” to a laugh-out-loud with a perfect pay-off.

What a beautiful Love Story - about marriage, mistakes, and stones. In nine pages we go on a journey with TJ and Kendra that moves, delights, saddens, and enraptures us. I'm rooting for them, and you will be too by the end of Backyard Stonehenge, a sentiment that may not be shared by Mrs. Ferria. Playwright Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn writes with great craft and empathy for her characters. Read, produce, and don't drink and drive.

I'm generally not a fan of slice-of-life dramas when presented as ten-minute plays. Often, playwrights just cut right to the part where characters are bellowing their grievances at each other before the audience has had a chance to familiarize themselves with the players or get invested in the drama. BACKYARD STONEHENGE is a happy exception. Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn infuses the dialogue with such tenderness and the characters have so much affection for each other, that you don't feel like an unwelcome eavesdropper listening to two combatants airing their dirty laundry, but rather like a witness to something beautiful. Well done!

Confession: I read the BACKYARD STONEHENGE plays in reverse order and had a great time discovering the events of the plays - backwards. TJ and Kendra are the endearing, wacky couple that appear at the end of RECLAIMED, and then begin the first play, so there was for me a wonderful symmetry and I found the ending of this, the first play, really hilarious because I’d already been introduced to cranky Mrs. Ferria. Regardless TJ’s misguided attempt to make up with Kendra is fantastic! What cool heart-rendering characters! I would love to see these plays in any order!!

I love this couple. This is true love. Fun set to design for this short comic piece and a great ending. Brava!

relationships are tricky, there is a lot of give and an equal amount of take. sometimes you don't even realize that there's trouble until it does incalculable damage. Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn deftly navigates through a rocky patch in a relationship with humor and heart. maybe I should say "stone" patch.

There is a definite hint of sadness that prevails throughout this beautiful ode to being in a relationship with someone who is battling their own demons while you can only look on and hope that at some point that person finds the right footing to move toward a brighter light than they are in. Alcoholism is such a devastating burden for the drinker and those who love the drinker. Gentleness, like this beautiful play is , sometimes is the best course of action for all involved.

I love it when I’m watching or reading a play that’s set outdoors at night and I can feel the night air and see the shadows and the glow on the characters’ faces. This is one of those. You can practically smell the backyard and taste the underlying resentment. There’s a grand romantic gesture happening and, as with such gestures, the circumstances aren’t ideal and there’s a lot to make up for. This marriage is deeply real. The conflict ebbs and flows with high stakes but without histrionics. The payoff is sublime.

"Backyard Stonehenge" is a small but powerful work by a master storyteller. It starts with an absurd comic action, and I started thinking about how the actor would have a field day working on the physical comedy. But like most real-life comedies, the story instantly dissolves into the bitter-sweet fountain of life. In this profoundly allegorical play, Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn creates a compelling emotional world where two lovers try to bridge the distance with stolen materials from a scary neighbor!

The title grabbed my attention, and it didn't disappoint. Glad to see he didn't try to build a full-size model! But the analogy of building the miniature and concurrently rebuilding their relationship was poignant. I found the notion of him sitting at the bar every night because she worked there, and then getting a DUI presumably as a result, sort of an interesting side story that fades away into the greater conclusion.