←Recommendations of The Practice Room

The Practice Room is one of my favorite plays that I've read recently. Julissa and Giselle are such compelling characters from the beginning and the play artfully reveals various layers to the girls as the narrative unfolds. There are genuine stakes involved, and the play examines whether two very different people (who are more alike than we think!) can become friends in a super competitive environment. This would make for an amazing production!

Exactly what you want out of a two-hander - beautifully paced and specific, this play is a gem to spend time in. It's a spot-on look into the insecurity, wit, and energy that goes into being a young woman pursuing a dream. Kantor builds a robust environment that serves its role well as the third character. Great for young actors and small spaces, highly recommend getting this script up on its feet.

"I know it's true because you're telling me it's true" might be one of my favorite lines in a play ever. Kantor has created such full characters that when Giselle says this, I just think, oh yeah, Giselle would totally say that.

Julissa and Giselle are such astoundingly well-rounded characters that, in every argument, I was rooting for both. Their slow opening up to each other felt entirely natural and fully earned. A gripping play about success and failure in a zero-sum environment, which questions how the notion of talent is rooted in someone's background. As someone who spent my college years in a similar environment, it was a distressingly accurate mirror. And that ending SLAPS! Produce it yesterday!

The Practice Room is beautiful. It’s rare to find a two-hander where characters compare and contrast across so many dimensions. Julissa and Giselle are altogether likeable and yet flawed. They are kindred spirits and yet polar opposites. They complement each other perfectly and make each other better. Like the music they will make together, The Practice Room has perfect tempo, rich harmony, and stirring emotional chemistry. Brava!

I have never seen a character with Dylexia in a play before, and while I do not have synesthesia or many of the other challenges that face Julissa, I felt so incredibly SEEN by this character and this play. I could not put it down! And I want to see it on stage! Get some college-aged actors and do this show! From the walls literally crumbling around them, to overbearing parents actually providing the means to stand up for oneself, this play is beautiful. Thank you, Aly, for this gift of a play!

Aly Kantor's "The Practice Room" tears down the patriarchy, one acoustic tile at a time. I loved the story, the staging but most of all the two characters at the heart of this powerful two-person full-length as they navigate what they want from life and each other. Absolutely brilliant!

LADY MUSIC. I love this. I don't have a musical bone in my body, but I could not have been more invested in the story of two college musicians battling for superiority on the cello while at the same time trying to figure themselves and their lives out. This play perfectly captures what it is to be college-aged, trying to figure out who you are and what proves you have worth. Aly Kantor is a treasure. A perfect play for two young actors!

I loved everything about this fabulous two hander for women. Love the confinement of the space, the whiteness of it to really show off those colors, and the contained dialogue within, the tension ramping up, the acoustic tiles falling, the metronome ticking away and the world of competition giving way to one of collaboration. "There are only two women, and they are equals here." Brava, playwright.

Um, YES to this exploration of opposite sides of very much the same coin. Giselle and Julissa ache, yearn, flex, breathe, and imbibe music in the way of true believers. Their constant conflict reveals so much about the human condition, especially how people who are polar opposites in virtually every way can be tethered by one core, vital commonality. I love this play.