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Matt Herzfeld

Recommended by Matt Herzfeld

  • Family by Celine Song
    4 Sep. 2015
    “ I adored the workshop production I saw of this last year - the play is dark, creepy, and unnerving, but also terribly funny. Celine's language is rhythmic and musical - the repetitions, circles, and variations between monologues and clipped speech all result in a sharp and crisp play. Behind all the funhouse mirrors and surreal madness, however, is a very moving story about the emotional damage caused by distant parents and family secrets, and the resulting cruelties that emerge. Celine's play might be considered "experimental," but it is rooted in honest raw emotion. Highly recommended. ”
  • The Wedge Horse by Nick Gandiello
    4 Sep. 2015
    “ I really enjoyed the Wide Eyed reading of this. It exemplifies what Nick is so great at - combining the political and the personal in a way that feels natural and nuanced. Nick is a new breed of political playwright - not prone to agitprop, but interested in exploring the ways that politics impact our emotional lives and relationships. I'm really eager to follow the future life of this play. ”
  • Standard Aptitude by Sam Byron
    4 Sep. 2015
    “ A really interesting and reflective play. Sam's distillation of the pitfalls of our success-based academic culture is poignant and timely. What really makes the play, however, is an acute sense of place (Sam evokes to brilliant effect his hometown of Highland Park, Illinois) and a melancholic nostalgia. The play cast a spell over me in its New School production. ”
  • Day to End by Sam Byron
    4 Sep. 2015
    “ Read this play! It's one of my favorites out of Sam's work - the cramped, claustrophobic interior of the East Village apartment from hell lends the play an almost hallucinatory quality, especially as it moves in the play's final stretches towards the surreal. Sam's ability to craft language is on full display here - there are some excellent monologues. A wonderful two-hander (there's a third role, but it's effectively a two-hander) for a pair of brilliant, young, powerhouse actors. ”
  • Animals by Sam Byron
    4 Sep. 2015
    “ This play pulls no punches - brutal at time, but with purpose. Sam has a lot of insight into the masculine mindset, and the ways that deep insecurities can be masked by macho posturing. ”