←Recommendations of THE PRINCESS AND THE PINUP

Great, fully realized characters and a real charm imbuded in the show, this is an amazing love letter the the culture of the 1940's. Great work, a delight to read, and I would love to see this performed.

In a world where far too many WWII-set dramedies fail to delight, where characters fall into flat archetypes, where the trenches of tired tropes are trod, the wunderkind Brent Alles comes to our rescue! TPATP is a fun, progressive (without flinching away from the realities of the era), and moving romance filled with characters that are just infectious. Costume designers, too, will have the best time creating the comic strip characters that populate the scenes. Full of charm, with heart to match.

Brent Alles wears his influences on his sleeve in this fantastic homage to 1940s American comics and culture. The Princess and the Pinup favorably calls to mind “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” with its weaving of history, queerness, comic books, and the vital, aspirational project of being an artist. The Playwrights Thriving Reading Series was proud to present Alles’ work in its 2025 season of programming. I can’t wait to see the heights to which this play will soar.

In a time when comic books and radio serials mesmerized a nation during wartime, Brent Alles gives us a look behind the pages to give us deeply drawn characters who have their own struggles with real-world villains and cliff-hangers. He crafts a tale that combines fantasy with reality, and they seek to find a way to get to a world where life is more like their fantasies: love wins out, the baddies are vanquished, and we are our own superheroes.

A fabulously feminist and historical comic book story! This would be so much fun to design as well as perform. And even though there is a fantasy world element to this play, the things that happen to the characters in the real world are not sugar (or crystallose) coated. They have very real problems that can not be wrapped up in pretty bows. This would be wonderful to see staged.

11.10.25 - Absolutely loved this period comic drama and homage to comic books, radio shows, WWII and forbidden romance. Brent Alles has written an emotionally charged love letter to a more innocent time that had it's own take on the concept of secret identities. With knockout characters and a lot of heart, I can only hope this play gets the dozens of productions it so rightly deserves. Be Brent's hero and produce this piece.

Or ze Iron Claw vill haf to shtep in und make you...

A wonderful bit of storytelling. The use of the comic book fantasy reflecting reality provides additional emotional resonance to a fractured love story where societal norms and circumstance create roadblocks to happy endings. Told with love and care for his characters, Brent Alles creates a world steeped in history as well. I can hear the patter of the snappy dialogue as the zingers fly. Funny, touching and a joy to read. Would love to see this on stage.

This script is subtly seeped in history, creating a vibrant theatrical world full of picture shows and bazooka bubble gum... and the action all takes place in one room! Stunningly intimate yet brazenly theatrical, this almost-love story is full of colorful, (mostly) lovable characters grounded in their time period. Both progressive but realistic given the climate, I still found myself rooting for these lovers and hoping for a better ending! Funny, tense at the right moments, and lots of fun!

What a great show! Perfectly set in the middle of WWII, there's nostalgia for those early days of comic strips. There's love here, and loss, and fury and unfairness, and in the end, some hope for a future we know probably won't happen for two of our characters, but maybe the glimmer is enough. This would show well on almost any stage, from a good quality community theater to professional level. So much to love here.