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John Minigan

Recommended by John Minigan

  • Password: 2020 Escape Room [a 1-minute play] by Steven G. Martin
    6 Dec. 2021
    “ Only the brilliance of a writer like Steven G. Martin can have you howling with laughter and cringing in recognition--somehow without ever taking a breath.

    Oh, wait, I guess 2020 can do the same! Which is an even greater testament to how well this short play works.

    Password packs a punch. Yes, the immediate past was awful; yes, we all want to escape it; no, we haven't yet figure out how. I guess it's time to rage-trash some furniture... ”
  • Dark & Stormy by John Mabey
    1 Aug. 2021
    “ As Bradley says in this surprising and delightful twist on noir, "None of us are ever just one thing." It's an apt description of this play, too. These two characters start in expected places and end up somewhere completely different. It's a thoroughly beguiling bit of work -- all the foreboding of noir, mixed with a sense that hope for human connection can happen even in a dark & stormy encounter. ”
  • AFFINITY LUNCH MINUTES by Nick Malakhow
    27 Jul. 2021
    “ Affinity Lunch Minutes is a sharp look at the way predominantly white institutions - even/especially those that espouse liberal values - recapitulate supremacist structures. The brilliance of the play lies in the way it shows us how systemic failures impact the lives and choices of the individuals involved. Ben's wrestling with his connection to the institution and its goals is powerful and, at times, heartbreaking. The personal and political mirror each other, pulling us deeply into the individual and structural issues. Great, complex roles, and exciting design challenges in the interludes. ”
  • Stew by K. Alexa Mavromatis
    28 May. 2021
    “ This is a stunning, deeply resonant play. What begins as a charming grandfather-grandson play about a baseball tryout quickly becomes a powerful story of how love can help us manage grief and reconnect after loss. A gorgeous short play with outstanding roles for both performers. ”
  • Skin to Skin: A Virtual 10 Minute Play by Cassie M. Seinuk
    22 Apr. 2021
    “ This play has so much to say about parenting, marriage, what we owe each other/our kids/our parents, and it says it unflinchingly--especially during a pandemic, but it's truths are about more than that. An outstanding short play that uses the zoom/virtual format brilliantly. ”
  • I, Corn Dog by Matthew Weaver
    11 Apr. 2021
    “ A corn dog (or is it Corn Dog) has an existential crisis. Hilarious, deep, and ultimately deep-fried.

    And there's a stage direction about a stick that may rival "Exit, pursued by a bear."

    This is a joy to read, and an actor would have a blast performing it! ”
  • It's an Espresso Drink with Foamy Steamed Milk by Steven G. Martin
    11 Apr. 2021
    “ If and when the world ends, it could never be as brilliant, hilarious, and biting as it is in this two-minute gem of a play. And it may find us doing what Stella does, fiddling (with our phones) while everything burns. In deft strokes, Steven G. Martin gives us in Stellan, Stella's sib, who in other circumstances and with a different café companion, might have a chance at awareness. We see in him a glimmer of hope too quickly extinguished by a hashtag and a dash of foam as much as by whatever falls from the skies. Outstanding work. ”
  • GET SEXY ON ZOOM, a 10 minute Zoom play by Andrea Aptecker
    4 Apr. 2021
    “ Maybe the only thing tougher than theater on zoom is getting sexy on zoom. This play does the "theater on zoom" thing brilliantly, bringing us up close to both characters and their combination of loneliness, hope, and awkwardness. Aptecker gives us a hilarious set-up and execution, and her characters highlight what isolation has done to us--and what isolation can sometimes push us to. Very funny, very human and, in the end, a little bit heartbreaking. You can't help but root for these characters, even while you understand that they can't get what they really want. ”
  • THE DRAFT by Peter Snoad
    4 Apr. 2021
    “ This ensemble play captures not just the history but the personal crises--ethical and emotional--of so many who lived through the era, weaving multiple threads in ways that bring what is for some an unknown past to life in compelling ways. The play resonates today, capturing the effect of national division on the individuals and on the country. Complex, engaging, and provocative work. ”
  • WHORTICULTURE by Emma Goldman-Sherman
    3 Apr. 2021
    “ Emma Goldman-Sherman has crafted a brilliantly complex and resonant play about the dangerous normalization of all levels of patriarchal culture--from the centering of men in our politics and power to the sexual abuse of young girls. The play highlights one of the most painful aspects of the normalization: the way young girls internalize patterns of oppression and recapitulate them until tragedy forces confrontation and possible change. The play itself - through jumps in chronology, plasticity in roleplaying, juxtaposition of styles, and brilliant theatricality - does the same for the audience, making strange and therefore clear these patterns. Astonishing and heartbreaking. ”

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