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Ian Thal

Recommended by Ian Thal

  • The Honest Interview by Rachel Feeny-Williams
    26 Oct. 2023
    “ A hilarious satire of and Human Resources management practices in the information technology sector with and the level of discrimination and misogyny that permeates even when –and especially when– technologies are used to create "transparency". Today it's data and surveillance, will truth serum be next year's management practice? ”
  • Remembering Elizabeth by Jack Rushton
    19 Oct. 2023
    “ A vivid portrait of a man descending into dementia. While some of his personality, and wit remains intact, each day is like an absurdist play in which with help from his second wife, Elizabeth Albert must refamiliarize himself with his world and personal history, and some days, like today, are like a detective drama, in which both the audience and Albert must assemble to evidence to discover what happened on the worst day of Albert's life. Emotionally gripping without being nostalgic or sentimental. ”
  • TWO JEWS WALK INTO A WAR... by Seth Rozin
    19 Sep. 2023
    “ The last two Jews of Kabul live together in the last synagogue of Kabul, and though they hate one another they decide to write their own Torah to replace the one stolen by the Taliban, what follows are debates about masturbation, lesbians, and eating animals not mentioned in the Torah. In the streets the Taliban deal in violence. Inside the synagogue Ishaq and Zeblyan deal in slapstick, and in their debates the vulgar and sacred meet, and yet, this too, is Torah. ”
  • Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee
    18 Sep. 2023
    “ Yee's "Cambodian Rock Band" celebrates both the musicians that the Khmer Rouge murdered and the music that survived, communicating in a way that statistics and archives don't always do the vibrant and visceral popular culture that was killed in the first genocide of the rock'n'roll era. ”
  • LIFE JACKET by Caridad Svich
    18 Sep. 2023
    “ In this intimate epic, two friends recount the time their regular Sunday boating excursion met the disaster that nearly cost them their lives. Was it the ecological and economic devastation hitting the coastline? Freak weather conditions? Sailing while under the influence? Or an unnamable cosmic horror? Svich's free verse style may be challenging, but for an imaginative director and cast, and an audience willing to embark on the voyage, the challenge is rewarding. ”
  • FINDING NEIL PATRICK HARRIS by Donna Hoke
    18 Sep. 2023
    “ Anyone who has been drawn into somebody else's eccentric (or poorly thought out) special funerary requests will get a cathartic release of laughter from this taboo-breaking road-trip frenemy comedy. In the end it's not just about desecrating living celebrities with human remains but the friends we make along the way. ”
  • Ain't the Biggest City by Straton Rushing
    15 Sep. 2023
    “ I just listened to "Ain't the Biggest City" on the Gather By The Ghost Light podcast. Rushing has created a a tense noir drama in which Lane, his heroine's personal sense of justice comes into conflict with her professional duties, and when her conflict arouses the suspicions of Officer McAllen, will it be the long arm of the law that reaches out for her, or the secret handshake of a conspiracy that has its own sense of justice? ”
  • Memento Mori by Jonathan Cook
    28 Aug. 2023
    “ If granted supernatural powers most people would be neither heroes nor villains and that's the case with Sam a post-mortem photographer with the power to raise the dead if for just several minutes. Perhaps he can offer some compassion and closure in that fleeting reprieve from death, but what if he could solve a crime? ”
  • Night Witch by George Sapio
    24 Aug. 2023
    “ Masha Pavlov is an engaging character, proud of her role as a light bomber pilot fighting back the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and still excited to describe the giddiness of flight and the machines that took her into the air, even as she recounts the humiliation of official misogyny, ill-fitting uniforms, antiquated technology, no parachutes, the death of many of her fellow Night Witches, and a state that swept their heroism under the rug once the war was over. ”
  • The Deal - 10 Minute Play by Ryan Kaminski
    22 Aug. 2023
    “ A clever short story that combines both the motif of the musician who makes a pact with the devil and the trickster who outwits the devil with the added twist of a revenge drama, there's a good sense of place and time and characters who present a real battle of wits. ”

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