←Recommendations of Dirty Harry and Virgin Sally

07/01/2026 - Wow! This piece went in several directions I wasn't expecting, and I was fully engaged with every bit of it. This would be a ton of fun to see two actors dress up as birds and go along with all the fun. Would love to see this performed at a ten-minute play festival!

Wickedly funny, delightfully offbeat–I was privileged tos ee this one at the Valdez Theatre Conference, where it brought down the house. A joyous piece for two actors willing to go all out with physicality, and an audience-pleasing comedy with depth and real warmth.

As an avid birder, seeing this mating dance of two California condors was a treat both as a watcher and a fan of Paul Braverman's plays. The gentle humor and pure choreography when Harry met Sally (a coincidental title, I'm sure) plays out like one of the best rom-coms that also invokes a touch of miraculous genesis. Bringing humanity to characters is one of the many aspects of this playwright's gifts, and it shows up so well in this lovely play.

This play was delightful and original. A Condor immaculate conception and a nicely woven dance of two characters getting close. As the anthropocene extinction deepens it also uses comedy to deftly touch upon a vitally important topic. For me this is far more powerful than plays which lecture the audience.

Sometimes you need a miracle to survive. Sometimes that miracle arrives in the form of a freak act of parthenogenesis that technically counts as a virgin birth. Sometimes you need to give two actors an excuse to strut around as two endangered condors while somehow playing out a genuinely touching love scene. Paul Braverman's DIRTY HARRY AND VIRIGN SALLY is the play for those times, a glorious piece of gonzo fun that somehow will get you to genuinely care about the fate of the Bird Messiah.

It is parthenogenesis? Or Bird Jesus? Either way, we do know for certain that Braverman’s short is an absolutely delightful two-hander, with opportunities aplomb for two actors to go all out. Funny, thoughtful, and in possession of a most impressive wingspan.

I mean, just the concept had me laughing, and then I dove in, and it just gets wilder from there. Absurd humor at its finest from Braverman, and yet a little bit of pathos as well? (Or parthenogenesis... I always get those two confused.) Anyway, this hilarious ten minute should be produced across the land. Let the wingspan of these condors spread out over the whole of theater nation, I say.

Now THIS is how you put research to good use!

This play is a gift to actors, costumers, and choreography/ movement folks. It's filled with blunt sexual overtures, religious lore, fun facts, and even a little romance. Also poop!

This will be a joy to stage and great fun to watch. Carry on! (See what I did there? Because vultures... I'll see myself out.)

As a Californian, I probably know more about condors than most people… But I did not know they could be so funny! This is a witty, entertaining play. Just delightful!

Paul Braverman has written a high-concept comedy that brings elements of religion, science, family, and love ... with a story about two condors. And it works and it's touching and it's funny and it's slightly cringe-worthy (if I never read the word "cloaca" again ...). Marvelous comedy that audiences will enjoy.