Recommended by Brendan Bourque-Sheil

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    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.

    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.

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    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...

    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.

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  • 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

    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

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    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.

    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.

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    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.

    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.

  • Brendan Bourque-Sheil: Return by Beth Kander
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    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.

    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.

    ”
  • Brendan Bourque-Sheil: EVERYBODY'S DEAD: A Comedy by Brandy N Carie
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    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.

    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.

    ”
  • Brendan Bourque-Sheil: The Forgotten Language of the Handshake or The Torso Play by Rachel Bykowski
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    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.

    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.

    ”
  • Brendan Bourque-Sheil: A Series of Inelastic Collisions by Eugenie Carabatsos
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    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.

    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.

    ”
  • Brendan Bourque-Sheil: The Play You Want by Bernardo Cubría
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    If you work in Theatre, or want to, I guarantee this play will make you laugh and think. It's a searingly funny, fearlessly honest roast of the American Theatre (and the playwright), but like all good roasts, it's a love letter in disguise, as hopeful as it is cynical, as tender as it is scathing, with an uncanny ability to make you look inward and outward at the same time. At any given moment in this play, there's a great punchline, an elucidating insight about artistry, and a metric ton of fun waiting in the wings.

    If you work in Theatre, or want to, I guarantee this play will make you laugh and think. It's a searingly funny, fearlessly honest roast of the American Theatre (and the playwright), but like all good roasts, it's a love letter in disguise, as hopeful as it is cynical, as tender as it is scathing, with an uncanny ability to make you look inward and outward at the same time. At any given moment in this play, there's a great punchline, an elucidating insight about artistry, and a metric ton of fun waiting in the wings.

    ”