Recommended by Ryan Dumas

  • John Proctor is the Villain
    18 Aug. 2021
    A true-to-life exploration of larger than life dreams in a small town shifts subtly and hauntingly into a searing indictment of power structures: particularly those that men have over women--their lives, their dreams, their beings. Kimberly's play does what I love best--moving from the hyper-real to the intensely theatrical, causing my to immediately feel the deep sense of emotion I would experience in the theatre. An intensely powerful new voice, and a beautiful play. The world premiere should have happened years ago.
  • Winter People
    3 Mar. 2021
    How do our actions, even without our knowledge, shape the fortunes and futures of others? Just how easy is it to act selfishly, without regard to how our actions will effect someone else?

    By looking at the social strati between "Locals," Laura is able to confront privilege in really subtle and varied ways. The conceit of using five women to play all the characters also made sense to me—it unites everyone in the play through their embodiment. I was struck by the idea that one major event can have incredibly wide-reaching consequences, which people respond to differently.
  • how it feels to fall from the sky
    3 Mar. 2021
    Can death make you understand that life is worth living? Can randomness really be fate? How do we find purpose and connection when everything seems so lonely?

    I really really loved this play, and have been thinking about it ever since I first read it. I was captivated by how beautiful Dominic’s writing is. The device that brings these lonely people together is so morbid and upsetting and weird that it manages to subvert expected conventions. The gradual reveal of structure, which helps guide you through to the end, was deeply satisfying. Really moving and beautiful.
  • The Gradient
    3 Mar. 2021
    How can we ever heal and grow if we try to quantify process? This play has a very interesting and timely premise, about how do we actually make men better. But, in raising the question of quantifiable growth and progress, Steph shows that that is never really quite possible, and may in fact be detrimental to the cause.
  • I Was Unbecoming Then
    3 Mar. 2021
    How do the authority figures of young women shape their identities? How do young women develop a confidence/knowledge in their bodies when they are forced to repress so often?

    I feel like the easiest way to describe this play is Usual Girls meets The Wolves meets Pitch Perfect. It's a wildly interesting mix of concrete, realistic experience and self-exploration in liminal space. The dialogue outside the choir room space is VERY poetic and beautiful—it allows the girls. to just speak, often about sex and sexuality in frank and occasionally crass ways that boys are often always allowed to.
  • EXCEPTION TO THE RULE
    16 Oct. 2018
    Dave's play is constantly surprising, while offering multiple moments of moving, funny, and deeply disturbing reflections on the ways institutionalized structures, and our responses to them, take effect on our lives.
  • mother's son
    29 Aug. 2018
    mother's son explores the relationship between mothers and sons through the lens of a mother's grief, while also allowing us to examine how our actions affect those around us, even those we don't know. It is a haunting and deeply affecting play.
  • An Untitled New Play By Justin Timberlake
    10 Apr. 2018
    While it is definitely an "insider baseball" play about the world of literary managers, Matt's play speaks to everyone fighting to do the best work they can, improving both their field and themselves. And it's really, really funny.
  • Cam Baby
    20 Mar. 2018
    CAM BABY was meticulously plotted, incredibly engaging, funny, anxiety-producing, current, and emotionally devastating. Jessica has tuned in to an incredibly dramatically rich story that hits at both current issues and long-standing concerns of human nature. A truly wonderful play.
  • LAURA AND THE SEA
    20 Feb. 2018
    Unlike any other play I've read, in the best of ways. A drama/comedy about the people we work with--the people we spend so much time with, yet don't know at all. Structurally innovative and ingenious, this play sticks with me long after I first read it.