←Recommendations of A BACK-TO-SCHOOL MONOLOGUE

A frightening and powerful monologue that should call adults to shame and attention at the lack of response to enforce better gun regulations. Well done.

Damn it Asher! How are you going to make a grown man feel this emotional this early in the day! Truly a masterpiece of the monologue sub genre. Mr. Wyndham exposes our current state with minimum effort, creating both a heartbreaking story and an adorable window into childhood innocence. Even if that innocent is compromised by today's threats. Bravo!

I felt this play in my heart. Wyndham demonstrates control over the dynamic ebb and flow of the script. Building you up with a lighthearted jaunt through a mall to go shoe shopping for back to school, only to let a wave crash into you as you realize the young child's reasoning for the shoe they want. Suddenly, innocence is lost in a single moment.

From the very first moments of this devastating play, Wyndham sets us in the hands of reality through subtle, relatable action and revealing, universal imagery. A child holds a Ziplock baggie full of coins — Chore money — And oh, those blinking shoes sure are neat. Here Wyndham departs — Pulls tight at our emotional sinews — Making raw and uncomfortable and all-too present the conversations parents have with their children every day about living defensively in this world where gun violence is an ever-present threat. This piece, featuring a child actor, would be a profound gift to any stage.

A child's logic, by miracle, mystery, or mercy, is usually difficult to argue. Adults will introduce the concept of, "Well, when you're older," in order to exert or exercise some social construct of authority. The child's sense in Wyndham's shattering monologue stops us cold. Our society's youth is taking stock of its surroundings. Why do they have to survive this, why is the central subject here part of their performance, part of their integration, their education? This is an agonizing, confounding, distressing, frustrating, deceptively simple work. Honor the children. Listen to the children. What? Are you too afraid to argue?