←Recommendations of Erstwhile

Braverman has found a clever way to talk about the past while revealing depth of character and emotion, a perfect setting for revelation and backstory. And he also explores something strangely odd about mourning - how remembering a loved one's life and circumstances of death, wondering about what you should have done, makes you a more responsible and a better person. A smart choice for a festival on mourning or suicide prevention or just a monologue festival.

Oh my gosh, this monologue is so sweet and sad. It’s a beautiful speech with some fantastic musings on language (with examples peppered throughout) and how even language usage keeps changing after a person is gone. Very little in this world remains the same. It is also, among the feelings of guilt and regret, ultimately, an example of how you can draw a little good out of something bad. It’s lovely.

For a monologue to be this raw and emotional and yet so simply stated and conversational is a feat of playwriting. Braverman's "Erstwhile" is as genuinely moving a one-man piece as I've ever read. Bravo.

An honest gut-punch of a piece, Braverman probes the emotional complications that neither time, nor self-justifications, nor empty platitudes can fully assuage in the long lingering wake of family tragedy. The thing that perhaps surprises the most about this deft and heartfelt solo piece is how well Braverman infuses it with the kind of dry humor and insider code that can sustain a family through both good and bad. Art drawn from pain, a brave work about guilt and survival.

Autobiographical writing is a risk - emotionally, artistically, you name it - especially about personal history as painful as this. But Paul Braverman, well, braves it out beautifully in his ERSTWHILE. He shapes the story commandingly, without losing his way; and the difficult subject matter is leavened with nice spurts of humor, and softened by time and hard-earned wisdom.

A deeply moving and personal testimony from one brother to another. And while Paul Braverman rightly calls it a reconciliation, take it from someone who has stood next to Ed's Brother and others, it is also a reconciliation for his own feelings of loss and long journey. Even if you have never been with him, you will understand.