←

Brendan Bourque-Sheil

Recommended by Brendan Bourque-Sheil

  • Talkback by Liz Duffy Adams
    28 Jan. 2024
    “ In ten minutes, this script presents a deeply relatable and reassuring read for any playwright in the field right now. It's a compelling reminder that every dramaturgical guideline for playwriting you've ever heard is ultimately just a guideline, and the "new play development" mindset can sometimes leave no room for the possibility that a play is already successful. ”
  • Your Mileage May Vary by Alicia Margarita Olivo
    16 Aug. 2022
    “ As someone who lives in the same general area where this play is set, I had moments while reading this of feeling my own neighborhood rendered with uncanny authenticity. The action's mostly grounded in this slice-of-life feel, but our protagonist spends enough time ruminating on film and other cultural ephemera that those pieces of their internal world make their way onto the stage in surprising, elegant, and form pushing ways, culminating in a funny, devastating, theatrical portrait of an utterly singular individual, but this play achieves universality in its specificity. I saw more than a little of myself in Mayel. ”
  • Song of Me by Đạt Peter Tôn
    23 Jun. 2022
    “ Saw the world premiere of this in Houston and can confirm, it's a stunning, important, charismatic work of theatre, that attracted new audiences in droves. Charming, funny, and savory, you don't see the emotional gut punches or the deep riffs on multi-cultural identity coming. It's new and timely, but it's also one of the strongest examples I've seen in ages of a good old fashioned "fly on the wall for a night of family intrigue" plays, that sticks the landing with a 100% earned feel-good ending ”
  • The Madonna of Logan Square by Katie Coleman
    14 Apr. 2022
    “ Sweet, dynamic, wonderfully thought-provoking, and highly theatrical, this play fuses history, myth, and current events to zoom out on trans identities and consider their place in the grander scheme of human evolution. It's an ambitious goal, but this script absolutely sticks the landing, and manages to articulate something profound and vital, with joyful exuberance. ”
  • Come Again by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend
    17 Mar. 2022
    “ This play has maybe my favorite characterization of Jesus that I've ever seen. It rockets along with this funny, heartfelt whimsy, only to punch you in the gut with some sobering realities. Charming, thought-provoking, incisive work. ”
  • Return by Beth Kander
    16 Feb. 2022
    “ Fast-moving, expertly crafted, and thought-provoking, this play draws elegant connections between cutting edge science and old world folklore. It left me meditating on the past and future. ”
  • EVERYBODY'S DEAD: A COMEDY by Brandy N Carie
    1 Jun. 2021
    “ This play felt like a way funnier, more theatrical, more poignant version of so many stress dreams I had this past year. It's articulating a lot of the anxieties that grow out of prolonged isolation with a singular blend of humor and pathos, plus a dash of horror and heartbreak. It manages to be deeply personal and simultaneously very tapped into our collective neuroses. ”
  • The Forgotten Language of the Handshake or The Torso Play by Rachel Bykowski
    20 May. 2021
    “ You know that feeling when you’re reading something so stimulating that you keep having to stand up, walk around and just take a swim in the ideas you’ve been given? This play gave me that like four times. Bykowski builds a darkly comical, but frighteningly plausible future, that’s dizzying in its scope, and fascinatingly reflective of the present. The love for Theatre as an art form, and the drive to push that art form forward are vividly on display in every scene from The Torso Play. ”
  • A Series of Inelastic Collisions by Eugenie Carabatsos
    24 Apr. 2021
    “ This play stuns me in its ability to see the forest through the trees. It's a fresh and unforgettable reminder of how our political identities and family identities inform each other, and how the desire for connection, as a driving force of human behavior, often results instead in collision. The fact that Carabatsos is able to elucidate this in a way that feels funny, relatable, timely, musical, and simultaneously grand and intimate in scope leaves me absolutey floored. ”
  • The Fierce Urgency Of Now (Radio Script) by Doug DeVita
    1 Apr. 2021
    “ Just listened to Fresh Fruit Festival's production of this and was instantly charmed. The Fierce Urgency of Now is part workplace comedy -- with raucously funny supporting characters that live up to every inch of the advertising world's cutthroat reputation -- and part tender tale of self-discovery, built around an unlikely bond between the two unforgettable leads. In turns hysterical and heartfelt, the play is an all-around stellar audio offering. ”

Pages