Recommended by Rachael Carnes

  • Rachael Carnes: BARSHA BADAL: A MONOLOGUE

    This play's structure, pacing and voice dynamics create a compelling, prismatic world - where a change agent takes on myth and momentum with dignity and grace. Wyndham's language builds momentum throughout in its honest conflict - this woman feels familiar and her story all too relevant. Do we live in America - the "Dream" - or the nightmare? With human connection and a kind of writerly ease, Wyndham asks the hardest questions. Any actor would find so much to work with here! It's big, lush and cuts to the bone.

    This play's structure, pacing and voice dynamics create a compelling, prismatic world - where a change agent takes on myth and momentum with dignity and grace. Wyndham's language builds momentum throughout in its honest conflict - this woman feels familiar and her story all too relevant. Do we live in America - the "Dream" - or the nightmare? With human connection and a kind of writerly ease, Wyndham asks the hardest questions. Any actor would find so much to work with here! It's big, lush and cuts to the bone.

  • Rachael Carnes: Paper Towels

    Oh my God — this play is a freight train! I think I stopped breathing on page two and off it goes from there — Strong and powerful, but with these exquisite little morsels of comedy that release you enough for the tense drama to snare you again and again. Diaz-Marcano packs a conversation over time and space, from personal to universal, imbuing seemingly surface moments with quandary. This operates at a subatomic level — fierce, relevant and accented with gobsmacking poetry. Damn. This is the stuff.

    Oh my God — this play is a freight train! I think I stopped breathing on page two and off it goes from there — Strong and powerful, but with these exquisite little morsels of comedy that release you enough for the tense drama to snare you again and again. Diaz-Marcano packs a conversation over time and space, from personal to universal, imbuing seemingly surface moments with quandary. This operates at a subatomic level — fierce, relevant and accented with gobsmacking poetry. Damn. This is the stuff.

  • Rachael Carnes: ROOM 27

    This play explores a deliciously dark underworld, padded with iconic musicians — and all their vanities and excesses — crowding each other for space in a dressing room they can't escape. Burdick's dialogue and humor create a marvelous interplay - between rules and rockstars. (Of course, in hell, guitars can't play and people lose their singing voices - this is a concept that is an absolute delight to imagine and extrapolate!) Burdick tackles heavy themes (loss, death, regrets) with a confident hand and accessibility. With all the characters age 27, this would be terrific for a college or...

    This play explores a deliciously dark underworld, padded with iconic musicians — and all their vanities and excesses — crowding each other for space in a dressing room they can't escape. Burdick's dialogue and humor create a marvelous interplay - between rules and rockstars. (Of course, in hell, guitars can't play and people lose their singing voices - this is a concept that is an absolute delight to imagine and extrapolate!) Burdick tackles heavy themes (loss, death, regrets) with a confident hand and accessibility. With all the characters age 27, this would be terrific for a college or university.

  • Rachael Carnes: 1 Bed 1 Bath

    As a former New Yorker, I just loved this — It brought me back to the travails of those dynamics between brokers and clients and — And within that, a terrific exploration of a broken relationship. Pittenger's characters connect with place fully, their dialogue snappy and revealing. I like, too, the writer's use of stage directions. There's just something so pathetic, and believable, about sitting down next to a lonely fern in an apartment foyer. (When that happens, you kinda know your life's not going the way you wanted.)

    As a former New Yorker, I just loved this — It brought me back to the travails of those dynamics between brokers and clients and — And within that, a terrific exploration of a broken relationship. Pittenger's characters connect with place fully, their dialogue snappy and revealing. I like, too, the writer's use of stage directions. There's just something so pathetic, and believable, about sitting down next to a lonely fern in an apartment foyer. (When that happens, you kinda know your life's not going the way you wanted.)

  • Rachael Carnes: Ñ

    Ñ explores a territory between witty word play and deep injustice - Humberto Amaya evokes the tragic unfolding of our societal and cultural erosion, among family, community — And its ensuing fears. The language world glistens inside this day-glo cage. I meant to read just a bit on my lunch break at work, and kept right on reading. The interplay between unreality - or disbelief or suspension - and the details of the day-to-day make this work prescient, timely and compelling. It's both new - and relatable. We need to hear more voices like this one on our theatrical stages.

    Ñ explores a territory between witty word play and deep injustice - Humberto Amaya evokes the tragic unfolding of our societal and cultural erosion, among family, community — And its ensuing fears. The language world glistens inside this day-glo cage. I meant to read just a bit on my lunch break at work, and kept right on reading. The interplay between unreality - or disbelief or suspension - and the details of the day-to-day make this work prescient, timely and compelling. It's both new - and relatable. We need to hear more voices like this one on our theatrical stages.