Recommended by David Hansen

  •

    A deceptively clever piece of work. The playwright might read, sympathize and champion the protagonist, but the proof is in the final paragraph. Focusing your art on vengeance is a playground for petty minds and yields bitter fruit. A valuable lesson to be learned, and a well-executed monologue. Recommended!

    A deceptively clever piece of work. The playwright might read, sympathize and champion the protagonist, but the proof is in the final paragraph. Focusing your art on vengeance is a playground for petty minds and yields bitter fruit. A valuable lesson to be learned, and a well-executed monologue. Recommended!

  •

    A beautiful testament to life-long coupling. This is a very natural conversation between two very real people, and I know because I feel like I have had a conversation like this one many many times. Well done.

    A beautiful testament to life-long coupling. This is a very natural conversation between two very real people, and I know because I feel like I have had a conversation like this one many many times. Well done.

  •

    An evocative short period scene which takes a surprising and thrilling turn to the noir right at the end. Well done.

    An evocative short period scene which takes a surprising and thrilling turn to the noir right at the end. Well done.

  •

    Sometimes the most important expressions are straightforward, honest and unafraid. Very glad to learn this was presented by Different Strokes Performing Arts Collective as part of the same event as one of my monologues! Not a ramble, so much as a statement of fact, and greatly appreciated. Well done!

    Sometimes the most important expressions are straightforward, honest and unafraid. Very glad to learn this was presented by Different Strokes Performing Arts Collective as part of the same event as one of my monologues! Not a ramble, so much as a statement of fact, and greatly appreciated. Well done!

  •

    Dunkle has crafted a lovely and fantastic tale for children about coping with grief, and the compassion and comfort that can be discovered in found families. It has a powerful lesson, that life can be scary but also wonderful and that it is to be lived and not hidden from: the most difficult thing to accept is change. You can find hope in hopelessness, if you look for the fireflies. Highly recommended!

    Dunkle has crafted a lovely and fantastic tale for children about coping with grief, and the compassion and comfort that can be discovered in found families. It has a powerful lesson, that life can be scary but also wonderful and that it is to be lived and not hidden from: the most difficult thing to accept is change. You can find hope in hopelessness, if you look for the fireflies. Highly recommended!

  • David Hansen: Forte by Alice Gamache
    “

    This is lovely; A mundane yet cozy locale with a faerie feeling is the setting for a brief tale of disconnected young adult friends have an encounter at an important crossroads in each of their lives, right when they need each other most. Is it magic? Is it metaphor? Does it matter? Either way, it works. Recommended!

    This is lovely; A mundane yet cozy locale with a faerie feeling is the setting for a brief tale of disconnected young adult friends have an encounter at an important crossroads in each of their lives, right when they need each other most. Is it magic? Is it metaphor? Does it matter? Either way, it works. Recommended!

    ”
  • David Hansen: 37 Origami Bees: A Franklin Ellis Mystery by Christopher Soucy
    “

    Not the bees! Soucy has crafted a hardcore noir with elements of horror that is impossible to resist. Well done.

    Not the bees! Soucy has crafted a hardcore noir with elements of horror that is impossible to resist. Well done.

    ”
  • David Hansen: The Wrong Jen Harper by Steven Hayet
    “

    Being an actor is like THE GAME. Whenever you are aware that you are acting, you aren't. This brief play is not about identity, but about the art of performance itself. It is not that, in acting, your name doesn't matter, it is that *you* do not matter. And once you get that, you have taken your first big step toward being good at it, which Hayet, here, communicates very well. Recommended!

    Being an actor is like THE GAME. Whenever you are aware that you are acting, you aren't. This brief play is not about identity, but about the art of performance itself. It is not that, in acting, your name doesn't matter, it is that *you* do not matter. And once you get that, you have taken your first big step toward being good at it, which Hayet, here, communicates very well. Recommended!

    ”
  • David Hansen: A Long Way To Tipperary by Leah Roth Barsanti
    “

    This is a wonderful, brief, debate play on the importance of representation. The arguments coming at the protagonist, Jos (from his colleague, and also Mary Tyler Moore -- a delightful and accurate portrayal of MTM's TV personality) are solid and well-argued, but so is Jos's own anxieties about the weight of responsibility for that representation. Barsanti has written a very enjoyable play, I recommend it for an evening of one-acts!

    This is a wonderful, brief, debate play on the importance of representation. The arguments coming at the protagonist, Jos (from his colleague, and also Mary Tyler Moore -- a delightful and accurate portrayal of MTM's TV personality) are solid and well-argued, but so is Jos's own anxieties about the weight of responsibility for that representation. Barsanti has written a very enjoyable play, I recommend it for an evening of one-acts!

    ”
  • David Hansen: Crazy for You, Baby by Michele Miller
    “

    So relatable, post-partum depression make be nothing to “joke” about which is why a piece like this is so successful in how it shows what a mother goes through — who she has to deal with, the feeling of helpless and lack of direction and support — with humor and sympathy. It may take a village to raise a child, but often it’s just the one person who must raise the child, and the village isn’t helpful. Recommended!

    So relatable, post-partum depression make be nothing to “joke” about which is why a piece like this is so successful in how it shows what a mother goes through — who she has to deal with, the feeling of helpless and lack of direction and support — with humor and sympathy. It may take a village to raise a child, but often it’s just the one person who must raise the child, and the village isn’t helpful. Recommended!

    ”