Recommended by Dayna Smith

  • The Blushing Groom
    5 Sep. 2020
    Sweet, natural dialogue keeps this piece moving quickly. Once the conceit of the play opens up early on, we are treated to a simple premise: watching two people who love each other navigate a unnavigable situation, using their minds and their hearts and frank conversation. Sweet and funny and real!
  • Here Lies Cappy
    11 Feb. 2020
    With such simplicity of language and dialogue, Anya paints a portrait of these people so fully. They inch toward a deep, dark pit of the play -- a mother's suicide -- with baby steps but when it finally hits, the simplicity and truthfulness and "that's all there is?"ness of it is so moving and true and just laid me out. The central relationship between Twig and her mother is such a moving strong suit of this play -- the image of three generations of women sitting at a kitchen table reading the eldest's suicide note will stay with me.
  • Paletas de Coco or, The Letter Unspoken or, The Christmas Eve Play
    23 Jan. 2020
    Holy shit. This play is incredible. What theatre is meant to be -- honest and vulnerable and moving and funny and relatable. I am so impressed with how raw and stripped down this play is and still is so gripping and magnetic. Wow wow wow. Great work Franky. I feel like I know you. And weirdly, I feel like you know me. Beautiful beautiful!
  • The Fermi Paradox
    2 Oct. 2018
    I had the pleasure of directing a reading of this play at Campfire Theatre Festival. This play is so funny and sharp and observant while also being complex and raw and looking the notion that we might not all find a true love right in the eye. It demands we question what it means to actively love someone and not just feel the feelings. FERMI PARADOX gets absolutely hilariously bonkers and piercingly poignant simultaneously in a really satisfying way.
  • Hit the Pavement or, Hoboloboactive
    29 Jun. 2018
    There's nothing soft about this play. All sharp angles and fuck you's, Imani pulls no punches drawing up a world where young people fight for survival and have no one to please. The language and rhythm of this piece is vibrant and exciting, and it has multiple beautiful little nuggets of relationship and moments of connection.
  • Borderline
    29 Jun. 2018
    Borderline takes place in an expertly-crafted physical space, sounds and imagery clearly building for us a murky wasteland where mysterious happenings take place and an eerie force is lurking. The innocence of four young adults struggling to exist in a dangerous darkness feels tangible. And at the core of this sinister environment beats an emotional heart about one's need to find safety, stability, love and the community we build when we are alone. A timely, heartbreaking piece.
  • Daughter of God
    29 Jun. 2018
    Daughter of God makes a colossal story accessible with funny, timely characters and a strong feminist lead at the center. A story about the need to address long set in stone ways head on and face the problems of the world and the human race with a new perspective.