←Recommendations of Fresh Hell

The stakes in this short are hilarious (register the kid for summer camp before it fills up), but as any parent will tell you, there are no higher stakes than that. I was equal parts anxious and delighted the whole way through, which is rare place to be. Love it!

Some say Hell is other people, but “Fresh Hell” is a whole other play! Brian Cern captures the frenetic, furious madness of trying to sign your kid up for summer camp and secure yourself some well deserved peace and quiet. I had the pleasure of seeing this play presented at the 2025 Midwest Dramatists Conference and I am a firm believer, this play is a cathartic crowd pleaser. Hilarious!

A slice of life that cuts straight through the heart of parenthood. A universal story for anyone hoping to find relief from the stress of life at the push of a button, only to run into connectivity issues. Saw a great performance of this at the 2025 Midwest Dramatists Conference.

This is a play that every parent who has ever had school-age children will feel in their bones. We have been there. That laughter feels very cathartic. Well done, Brian (saw the Midwest Dramatist Center reading).

I saw a reading of this at Midwest Dramatists! Ahh! This play will put you on the edge of your seat as you witness two parents trying so hard to sign up their kid for summer camp! I loved how the characters work together only to make things more stressful which makes this play so funny! Nice work Brian!

Oh, is this super tense micro-drama relatable, whether you're a parent of a school-age kid or not! Even with stakes as low as summer camp registration, your heart will be pounding as you root for this snarky, terrible, but lovable duo (who are clearly having some subtextual trouble in paradise)! The tension makes the perfectly timed humor pop, and the delightful cathartic release ensures the final reversal hits like a punch in the gut! This is the perfect scale for a ten-minute play.

This funny, high-wire comedy hits the nail squarely on the head, capturing the pervasive anxiety of parenting in our over-scheduled age. I listened to an excellent audio production of the play by Theatrical Shenanigans and could feel my stress-level rising even as I nodded and laughed along. So glad my own daughter long ago outgrew the need for summer camp! The impressive list of productions underscores how perfectly Brian Cern has tapped the way we live now.

I'm on a bill with this play in August, so I thought I'd check it out. Funny slice of marriage, with some darker undertones. Registering for camp may not be this couple's only issue! Well done, hope to catch it onstage in CT.

This short play is pure comedy: people doing and saying bad things while under pressure. "Fresh Hell" is brisk, cringe-inducing, rude, and nonstop.

I've often said when listening to how stressed parents I know are, its a miracle people choose to have children. That was the first thing that came to mind when I read this wonderfully high energy play. Brian has perfectly framed the idea of parental stress when trying to make summer arrangements. Its a play that offers great opportunities, for the performers to play two great roles with some cracking lines, for the director to replicate the amazing pace you can hear in the dialogue and for an audience to belly laugh out loud!