←Recommendations of Simon Says

SIMON SAYS is genuinely one of the most horrifying plays (no, not just short plays... PLAYS) I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. An expert in pacing and suspense, Moughon has created a terrifying modern day fable that examines agency and consent in a deeply impactful, engaging fashion. Never has my whole body been so tense, and never have I enjoyed that feeling so much. This play must be produced - and lucky for you, Moughon has made it easy, with a simple set, three intricate characters, and a story that will send shivers down anyone's spine.

Whether Simon Says or nay (...), we should all applaud Moughon's terrifying short. This is a tour-de-force for three actors, and it descends into absolute horror with perfect pacing. Even the stage directions pull atmosphere work here, and I would be hard-pressed to imagine anyone not leaving a theatre chilled. Magnificent. Many claim horror doesn't work on stage. It's too much. Too expensive. Too hard.

We have a new example to point to that proves otherwise.

Great horror stories all require real-world anxieties and fears to fuel their make-believe boogeymen - here it's the myriad of ways the world contrives to take away our agency, our ability to consent - and Moughon is a great horror writer. She's also the rare horror writer who can make the form work in theater, and SIMON SAYS is a blistering little display of mastery.

SIMON SAYS rests on an original premise: just as “Ring Around The Rosy” couches a deadly warning about the Black Death in a children’s game, so does the play’s eponymous game—to increasingly disturbing, violent effect. Erin Moughon’s surefooted genre piece hits all the right notes, laugh out loud one moment and spine-chilling the next. Her sly references to conspiracy theories like The Illuminati in her original lore (and the restraint she shows by showing us just enough of it) reveal her to be a literate and practiced storyteller. And what gnarly fun for three actresses!

I’m speechless…Moughon writes a frightening horror that captures your attention from the very beginning. SIMON SAYS is well crafted that features snappy dialogue and Moughon is able to craft this story and world in very little time. I’m not over exaggerating when I say that SIMON SAYS is simply one of the greatest one acts I’ve ever read.

I've always wondered about Simon Says, and now I know the truth. Moughon has a brilliant mind. This is a super-creepy play!

This feels like a cool, modern horror story that audiences will be talking about for ages. But only if Simon says they can!

A fabulous, chilling, suspenseful short that will leave your mind running long after the words on the page end. Highly recommend!

Even in a reading at the Valdez Theatre Conference with no set and reading from music stands, this short, sharp, and terrifying play pulls you in, then, like the spider to the fly, takes you to a shattering conclusion. On the level of the best Hitchcock for suspense and visceral reaction.

i've never been truly terrified by a play in the way i felt terror from simon says. moughon crafts a perfectly-paced world in which the deadliest of demands must be obeyed. easily my favorite one act play that exists.