←Recommendations of Wyoming 1879

The research that must have gone into WYOMING 1879 is impressive, with diction reminiscent of the HBO series Deadwood. Kim Ruyle has crafted a Western drama for our times with strong female characters, and yet it sits firmly in its own. Kim deftly weaves in the science, religion, and literature of its day, each area represented as a suitor to Claire the school teacher. The future doctor Lillian is a hoot. Wildly visceral resolution. The use of the Tolstoy quote is inspired. Wonderful! [5-31-26]

This is a unique and wholly engaging take on the revenge tale. With premonitions of the Women's movement and the Age of Reason, Kim E. Ruyle's "Wyoming 1879" is a play of ideas, the yearning for literature, death, high drama and the tumult of the American West. And I must mention the vivid and highly believable characters who drive this compelling piece. Kudos!!!

Love the setting, the time period, the feisty Lillian and the clear characterizations throughout this fast-paced romantic period drama. Bravo, playwright.

On the surface, a romantic yarn about good people trying to live right while the shadow of evil looms nearby. On a deeper level, the play is taking on the myth of justice in the American frontier of yore to ask enduring questions: Can people take justice into their own hands and remain just? Or are they lying to themselves? Ruyle skillfully integrates much into a galloping plot. Add in solid roles for actors, simple sets, and you've got a play that really is ready to be produced!

What's the difference between revenge and justice? Ruyle's play is set in the last bastion of an era where committing murderous revenge wouldn't necessarily land you in jail (if you survive). What it certainly would do, however, is change you forever. We make choices and decisions every day. Some of them take away parts of us we can never get back. A grand and musing romance on loss and what it means to honor a loved one's memory.

What a suspenseful and gripping saga of murder and revenge in the Old West! Populated with distinctive, compelling, and vividly drawn characters, this narrative gains additional heft from its philosophical conflicts and its powerful moral ambiguities. I am in awe of this play's world building and, again, the vividness of each and every character.