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David Hansen

Recommended by David Hansen

  • The Great Porn Caper by Bryan Stubbles
    12 Apr. 2020
    “ The Great Porn Caper is a playfully sordid road trip for disaffected Post-Millennials (can we stop saying "Gen Z" for God's sake) which roils with absurdity and loopy wordplay while also taking the piss out of Neo-Nazis, white trash, and Donald Trump, or did I just say the same thing three times. I would love to see a production of this play, preferably in a storefront theater with like twenty folding chairs for seats, and not just because I want to see young people in swimwear although that is part of it. Highly recommended! ”
  • Marginalia by Katherine Gwynn
    11 Apr. 2020
    “ WIth this script, Gwynn celebrates passion; passion for books, passion for reading, passion for writing, and passion for passion. She has created a lively little abbey, peopled with charming characters, each seeking their own garden of earthly delights. If only the world were more like this Benedictine cloister. It is a captivating play, one which I would love to see produced. Highly recommended! ”
  • AN ESTUARY by Nick Malakhow
    10 Apr. 2020
    “ Malakhow spins a tale of ghosts and relations, for it is the ghosts of relations who haunt us the most. It's got tension and humor, an insightful view into generations of shame but also care, and a lot of open wounds begin to heal. Highly recommended! ”
  • Aliquippa by Lydia Valentine
    9 Apr. 2020
    “ With her play Aliquippa, Valentine has composed a painful and joyful family drama of tragedy and hope. Four generations of Lockwoods aspire to difficult dreams in a nation where the rules remain set against African Americans. The playwright neatly weaves issues of economics, chemical dependence, and raising non-heteronormative children, providing each of her characters the opportunity to have a voice, doing so with a great deal of warmth and familial humor. Highly recommended! ”
  • Be a Mensch by Daniel Takacs
    8 Apr. 2020
    “ Takacs has created a modern sit-com with Be a Mensch, a Jewish Glass Menagerie (complete with fragile unicorn) in which the eldest son is also faced to choose between his family and self-determination, dominated by a larger-than-life absent father figure. Only in this case Abram is not dreamily self-involved as Tom Wingfield is, but harshly realistic. It's a coming of age story, one with a much more satisfying, if troubling, conclusion than Tennessee Williams's memory play. Highly recommended! ”
  • Her Own Devices by Lindsay Kennedy
    7 Apr. 2020
    “ A deftly plotted search for what is true and what is not, and also questions whether our inherent free-will is something we should really be happy about. Adams's script is adeptly eched with paranoia and doubt, an urgent tale for the era of COVID-19. ”
  • My Father Left Us and All I Got Was This Rembrandt by Ryan M. Bultrowicz
    6 Apr. 2020
    “ Bultrowicz here crafts a compact case of coitus interruptus, a potential hook-up which is uncoupled by the roommate, a savant whose interest in jigsaw puzzles becomes a puzzle to piece togther a masterpiece. It's a witty Millennial moment about relationships, as the invited guest gets to know these two who bicker like affectionate siblings, exchanging sharp, intelligent yet blasé banter. Nothing good happens past 2 AM. ”
  • Junk Bonds by Lucy Wang
    5 Apr. 2020
    “ Wang's rapid-fire banter, chatter and verbal abuse is deliriously loopy, poetry in and of itself. Masculaine toxicity here is a sport, one the protagonist Diana, a Chinese-American, the new girl, has to learn or lose. I was first exposed to this play twenty-five years ago, and I thought it was just about trading, but really it's about addiction -- the "junk" in junk bonds. This script is tight, relevant, aggressive and unforgettable. ”
  • Riot and Dishonor by Luke Brett
    4 Apr. 2020
    “ Brett joyfully mangles English, creating absurd metaphor, and laugh out loud abusive language. This Pythonesque insanity set to imabic pentameter put me in mind of the works of Kirk Wood Bromley, whose delirious forays into verse were nearly psychedelic. It is a non-stop riot, indeed, from beginning to end. Highly recommended! ”
  • Joker by Yilong Liu
    2 Apr. 2020
    “ An intimate family drama set against the backdrop of momentous events, Joker is a keen mystery. The playwright does a masterful job creating tension and an inscrutibly frustrating emotional puzzle which when unlocked reveals the many layers to a character who has kept so much pain hidden for so long. Recommended! ”

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