Recommended by Paul Donnelly

  • Penelope: A Lesson in Drowning
    20 Jun. 2024
    How refreshing to find the re-imaging a Greek myth centered on a female protagonist. Penelope has unexpected agency and the narrative is focused on her choice. The journey to her choice is rendered comically, punctuated with resonant journeys to and immersion in the river she fears. Both the mystical and comic elements are portrayed sublimely.
  • Saint Louise, Pray for Us
    18 Jun. 2024
    A plot summary would not to justice to this compelling meditation on the distorting qualities of grief and the vagaries of memory. The plot is certainly gripping, full of twists and revelations, but it is most powerful in the way it explores the true nature of unconditional love. The complex and fully human characters undergo a journey that is full of surprises, difficult truths, and, ultimately, reconciliation.
  • Ground Control to Baby Tom
    18 Jun. 2024
    Two very different female astronauts find themselves in the unexpected position of deciding which of them should carry space's first full term pregnancy. Their sharply funny disagreement explores much of the external pressure women face in child rearing. Their eminently rational solution flies in the face of the arbitrary direction of the soulless bureaucrats in ground control. This play made for an excellent episode of "Gather by the Ghost Light."
  • everyone in new york is beautiful
    18 Jun. 2024
    These complex people dealing with evolving identity and relationships and sexuality are incisively rendered and leap off the page. I felt submerged in a specific and vividly depicted world. Politics and philosophy have weaponized roles. Flynn has a unique and compelling voice that grips and challenges the reader.
  • The Show Must NOT Go On!
    17 Jun. 2024
    From the riotous set up to the brilliant verse mash up at the end, this piece is pure delight. A heady mix of verbal dexterity and physical comedy keeps the energy high and the conceit engaging. This would be such fun to see staged.
  • The Good Dybbuk
    16 Jun. 2024
    What a lovely portrait of love, actually several loves, that endure beyond death. Asher hits the jackpot finding his grandfather's collection of baseball cards, but hits an even bigger jackpot seeing the ghost of his grandfather and being able to bring his grandfather huge news. This play is laced with humor and builds to a satisfying and spiritually affirming conclusion.
  • Trivial [a monologue]
    15 Jun. 2024
    So much emotion roils under the surface of Hollis's attempt to mask her grief with facts and numbers. The one distance she needs to be able to measure is immeasurable. Her use of Morse code expresses her desire to communicate over a great distance and her last vestige of control.
  • mrs. reynolds
    15 Jun. 2024
    Well that was one wild ride! Shades of Christopher Durang. The deadpan revelation of family horrors and therapeutic malpractice is devastatingly funny. From the broadest strokes to the tiniest details this play is a comedic gem. Although I'll never look on oolong tea in quite the same way.
  • PULL
    14 Jun. 2024
    These young people are so real and whole that it almost feels voyeuristic to watch them struggle with their tentative escalation from friends to lovers. There is much humor mined from Ban's eager efforts to find a substitute for a condom and much that is touching about their shared history. From the startlingly physical opening beats to the tender conclusion, this play is thoroughly engaging and heartfelt.
  • There's A Boy In My Dreams
    12 Jun. 2024
    A sweet fantasy scenario proves to be only a fantasy in this charming and slightly melancholy short

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