←Recommendations of Kudzu

The power of a play is often in its final image, and this one is an absolute, chemistry-shifting retina burn that has been haunting me since I read it! That's not to say that the entire play isn't epically compelling, rife with romance, camaraderie, teenage hijinks, and, somehow, a driving message about toxic ideology as a contagion. The world of the play feels simultaneously infinite and gargantuan and leaves so much room for audience engagement. Creepy, complex, and atmospheric, this is a gem!

The breadth of this one-act play is stunning. Daniel Prillaman has successfully incorporated horror, teen romance, philosophy and spirituality into a summer camp setting and it works. I love that "Kudzu" is character-based, it's about the people who are responding to the situation rather than the situation itself. It's a glimpse at humanity ... for the time being, anyway. Great stuff -- chilling, sweet, thoughtful.

Oh I LOVE a piece as creepy as this one is! That Kudzu is more than creepy, but also a study of complex young lives interweaving (or not) in a very specific milieu, is a feat of dramatic engineering and I'm truly here for it. I've rarely encountered a script that takes a chilling description of offstage action and then brings it into the physical life of the play so effectively. Hats off to Prillaman and his freaky brain that made this piece.

Absolutely brilliant. The mark of a great playwright is that even the little moments, the one off pieces of dialogue stick with you. This is uttered in the first few minutes: I think the more power you give something the more of your own you give away. Hell of a line. Hell of a show. Amazing banter, genuinely creepy atmosphere and a masterclass of tension with one hell of a payoff at the end. I want to see all Prillaman works I've ever read produced, but I REALLY want to see this one.

If you've wondered whether a short play can be terrifying, warm, likable, romantic, and deep -- and did I mention terrifying? -- all at once, Daniel Prillaman's Kudzu is your answer. Challenging audience assumptions about the people who might be working at a Christian summer camp and always incisive with his metaphors, Prillaman gives us three very relatable characters whose easy banter and relationships exist in a lovely bubble, beyond which something truly unsettling is underway. A great gift to three young actors, and to any program of shorts willing to shake its audience in their chairs.