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Rachael Carnes

Recommended by Rachael Carnes

  • Vegetables are Revolting! by Morey Norkin
    23 Apr. 2024
    “ Okay, this is a giggle fest from start to finish! Norkin's wordplay ("chairveg" - Ha!) and groaning puns delight, and when we somehow find ourselves in an early Kubrick epic with a dozen vegetables, well, I was very pleased. This play would be such a fun one for student actors, especially. There's lots of room for an ensemble in the produce aisle! ”
  • And Try NOT To Enjoy Your Stay by John Busser
    22 Apr. 2024
    “ In a world where the line between traditional museums and selfie-driven experiences blurs more every day, Busser cleverly envisions an invitation where the audience itself is teed-up to be on exhibition. And, spoiler alert, this isn't A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte OR with George. This is museum as Hurt Locker, with fearless and chipper Tour Guide Laura summoning listeners into their own demise. I can see and hear the ways creative teams could enjoy defying expectations in the staging, as the walls slowly close in... Superfun! ”
  • Cue by Kate Danley
    9 Apr. 2024
    “ A delightful farce that's all-too-real for anyone who knows the trials and tribulations of community theatre. With Danley's hilarious dialogue, and the cadence and rhythm of its characters' escalating desperation, sight gags aplenty and even a last-moment gag, this play's a gem from start to finish. It's a wink to play-making that the audience at Oregon Contemporary Theatre ate up with a spoon. This is the perfect addition to a 10-minute play festival, and a terrific scene study for any team. Pure delight! ”
  • The Suitcase (Short Play) by Holly Arsenault
    6 Apr. 2024
    “ A post-pandemic play that asks us - is the funniest way - to explore what we lost, or rather, how our lives got *smaller*, Arsenault's witty dialogue braces along at a clip as three siblings ping-pong on and off one another's nerves, wrestling with a not-mini problem. I saw a fantastic production of this play at Oregon Contemporary Theatre, and would recommend the play to anyone who needs a laugh, and a gentle reflection on the challenges of becoming reacquainted with three dimensions after all that Zoom. ”
  • The Raven by James Perry
    18 Jan. 2024
    “ Well, this is a delight. Perry's exploration of Poe's language charges with a choreographic furnace that screeches at a sharp angle of comedic departure. Audience love to be in on a joke, to be surprised by the unexpected, and here's a tonic for all the times great literature was leeched of all its magic in dreary High School English classes. Sharp, confident and fun. ”
  • Anti-Hero: Revenge of the Swifties by Derick Edgren Otero
    11 Jan. 2024
    “ Within the world of Taylor Swift's fan base, beats the heart of a wry intergenerational examination of the ways social media trends meld with toxic societal traits to the detriment of humanity. This play makes me want to smash my phone == and every phone == with a hammer. Centering teenage girls and girl culture that transcends to a new universe of understanding, while deftly destroying late stage Capitalism with wallpaper-blistering satire, this play not only walks a razor's edge, it bends it in a new direction. Bravo! ”
  • The Rotary Phone by Andrew Martineau
    4 Jan. 2024
    “ What a charming trip down memory lane! Oh my glob, when we had to dial someone's number with a bunch of 8's or 9's in it? That was an act of love. That was *service*. Martineau has such a gem here - it will tickle the funny bone of anyone old and crusty enough to remember, and be intriguing and spacious to the crew who waxes nostalgic for 90's pre-smartphone TV like I watched Happy Days. We always want something simpler. I wish I could go back and tell myself to slam the receiver more often, or ever. Carpe diem. ”
  • BELLS LIKE HOOVES by Liz Appel
    1 Jan. 2024
    “ At the heart of this play lies loss and its absurdities, how we heal and hurt each other and how some questions can only be answered celestially. Appel's script dances in a luxurious space of real/unreal, time and place hops, at a quick and lively pace, like feeling the confines of its world expand and contract. Appel does a super job tracking the way catastrophe hits *different* for everyone and how inside trauma, it's pretty difficult to be there for anyone else. This is presented irreverently, and with fond humor. Bright dialogue - witty, heartfelt - take us there. ”
  • A 3-act, centuries-long love affair (abridged) by John Mabey
    30 Jun. 2023
    “ Relationships are complicated! Especially for mythical creatures that subsist by feeding on the vital essence of the living across the centuries. Most of us just quibble about whose turn it is to empty the dishwasher - not the gradients of normative expectation related to 'turning' fellow vampires. Look, if you're lost by this recommendation, do yourself a favor and read Mabey's delightful play. It's one page, and so much more. I'd LOVE to see this one on its feet. Or floating in mid-air. Or suspended upside-down like a bat! Pure fun. Bravo! ”
  • Many Moons Ago (A Garden Party Story) by Hannah Lee DeFrates
    29 Jun. 2023
    “ This is lovely. The lushness of the writing juxtaposes with a simplicity that hit me right at the back of my spine. That's what stories - no, specifically nursery rhymes - can do. There's a promise inherent, and a question that might not have the answer we expected, or wanted. Within the spaces created by DeFrates' world, these subtle, imaginative, otherworldly dynamics can play. ”

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