←Recommendations of Park Benches

It is such a touching play with themes of loss, acceptance, and the healing power of connection. The dialogue between David and Agnes is emotionally rich and subtly wise, drawing the audience into their world. This is what theatre is about—experiencing emotions and learning vicariously through the characters. Bravo! True heroism lies in embracing life's hardest transitions with grace and courage, and Agnes's gentle presence is truly wonderful.

"There is light even when there is dark" just one of the many emotionally beautiful and tragic concepts Darrin explores in this piece. A park bench can be considered quite a simple set but the exploration of the two characters through their conversation is guaranteed to captivate an audience to the point where what is around them doesn't matter. Its an amazingly powerful piece that offers the right actors a great chance to play characters that will resonate with an audience as will as invoke an emotional response. Speaking personally, there were tears by the end!

I love ducks. And I adore Agnes! Her gentleness with David...you can almost picture the glow of peace around her. And David's raw emotions just tear at the heartstrings. Audiences will be wiping tears away, but also swell with hope for what is after.

Is it the more loving choice to let go or to hold on? This is the painful dilemma poor David, wracked with guilt and grief, faces. His encounter with a celestial comforter helps to clarify his choice and to offer a glimmer of hope for the future. The metaphor of the ducks is skillfully employed and provides a measure of valuable levity.

Darrin Friedman handles a situation many of us have faced - the impending loss of a loved one -and does it with sensitivity, insight, and even a slight touch of humor. The conversation David has with Agnes is reflective not just of his own feelings of loss, but also the inevitable sense of guilt that more could have been done if only... And yet there is hope in this internal moment that carries us beyond this moment and into the future, but still with enough room to leave time to pay attention to the moment... and the ducks.

Darrin. I enjoyed your script. Most of my plays are about incidents like this also. Interesting dialogue to reflect on a serious point. You can imagine David going there for peace and quiet to think. Not expecting to be interrupted by conversation about ducks.
I just wrote a short based not on his wife’s end of life but his own, called On The Edge. I love plays like these. They make you think.
PS, I grew up in Baldwin, not far from you.

Park Benches made me feel compassion toward David and his search for closure. The playwrights use of pauses and overlapping dialogue amplified the emotions. Highly recommended this short play.

Darrin paints a touching portrait of a conflicted, grieving man. David's interaction with Agnes feels genuine and creatively reflects the inner struggle he has been facing for some time. The park was a nice choice of locations as a serene contrast to his turmoil and a place of meaning for him and his wife. Nicely done!

I really like this short. It's difficult to cram a full sense of loss into a 10-minute piece, but Darrin Friedman does just that in his story PARK BENCHES. The play provides suitable atmosphere for its topic and the dialogue is natural. Sad without being maudlin, the result still provides David (and us all) a glimmer of hope that all things are temporary - even the heart-wrenching grief of the passing a spouse. I'm sure we'll see this one in festival line-ups soon.

An incredibly moving piece about having to make unthinkable choices. It's "fantasy," perhaps, but one can only hope that they would have an Agnes for such occasions. A lot of meaning can be found in this short piece; the humanity shines through. I love pieces that use simple things for greater meaning, and you definitely get that here. An excellent ten-minute that would be a great part of any festival worthy enough to have it.