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Robert Weibezahl

Recommended by Robert Weibezahl

  • My Life Has Been a Preparation by Larry Rinkel
    22 Jul. 2020
    “ This thought-provoking, meditative piece—a sort of monologue with accompanying voices—speaks not only to the strange, isolated times in which we are living, but to the habitual isolation that writers (and other artists) need, yet sometimes cannot bear. Rinkel sweetly nails the chronic melancholy fused with eternal hope that is the artist’s life and truth. ”
  • Any Second Now by Philip Middleton Williams
    22 Jul. 2020
    “ Too many moments of unmitigated cleverness to count! This absurdist, postmodernism gem gleefully manipulates and mocks the ever-evolving tropes and archetypes of theatre, forcing playwrights and theatergoers alike to consider the way our own notions and tastes alter with changing fashions. How can something be so erudite and so funny at the same time? This 10-minute charmer should be performed as a curtain-opener at every playwright’s conference. ”
  • A House by the Side of the Road - Seven Short Plays About a Family by Philip Middleton Williams
    25 Jun. 2020
    “ “Memories... they’re like an album of photographs: faded and two-dimensional,” says Clyde, the recurring father character in these four plays, but Williams’s always deft writing is anything but. Each play works beautifully alone, but collectively they pack an emotional wallop that lingers long past the final lines of dialogue. Tears and laughter in equal measure. I’d love to see these plays produced as a set. ”
  • Death Plans A Holiday by John Busser
    23 Jun. 2020
    “ Very few plays make you laugh a lot, especially when merely reading them, but Busser’s weirdly and wonderfully macabre tale of Death and his wife planning a vacation with a perky travel agent is nonstop hilarity—especially for anyone with a penchant for clever wordplay seasoned with a pinch of corny humor. This play is so funny on the page one can only imagine how comically effective it will play on the stage. ”
  • A Craigslist Play by Ruben Carbajal
    23 Jun. 2020
    “ There is a venerable tradition of “found poetry” and with this play Carbajal has done something similar—constructing a found play from the pages of Craigslist’s Missed Connections section. The found phrases, brilliantly reassembled, form a moving and telling tapestry of voices that is by turns funny, poignant, and lusty, underscoring our shared desires, loneliness, and need for human connection. Bravo! ”
  • Sanctuary by Molly Wagner
    23 Jun. 2020
    “ This is a very subtle and wise play. In a series of beautifully rendered scenes, presented in a scattered chronology, Molly Wagner empathetically explores the long relationship trajectory of a man and woman—he a Catholic, she not—and how the structure and strictures of religion both impel and impede their lives and love. With its frequent shifts in time and mood, it requires a deft hand from director and actors, but it would be a worthwhile challenge to tackle a staging. ”
  • A House by the Side of the Road by Philip Middleton Williams
    7 Jun. 2020
    “ At first glance, this short play is a gentle, nostalgic slice of life about father, sons, and America’s national pastime. But the subtext digs much deeper into subtle issues of understanding and acceptance of the differences that sometimes threaten to divide us. Clyde’s quiet, uncritical acknowledgement of his less conventional son’s reality is touching and his powerful final words - ‘Just ... listen’ - speak volumes. ”
  • BLAME IT ON BARBIE, a four-minute comedy for two women by Arianna Rose
    31 May. 2020
    “ Arianna Rose never fails to delight with her plays, and in this short comedy she reminds us that even the most tendentious mother-daughter relationship has room for growth—and that shared passions can manifest in surprising ways. ”
  • LITERALLY SPEAKING (from the AN IRISH HEART COLLECTION) by Vivian Lermond
    31 May. 2020
    “ Lermond ‘flips the script’—instead of giving us American tourists abroad, this charming play centers on an Irish couple out of their element in trendy Hollywood eatery that, despite the name Flanagan’s Pub, bears little resemblance to their usual haunts in County Limerick. But the best travelers are adaptable and the middle-aged O’Sullivans prove surprisingly open-minded in the end—which earns them, and the audience, their just reward. ”
  • Canterbury Sextet by Larry Rinkel
    31 May. 2020
    “ Rinkel has very effectively updated six of Chaucer’s tales for our times, and cleverly framed them for a group of modern-day ‘pilgrims’ trapped in flight delay hell at JFK. In a recent reading over Zoom, the skilled actors captured the manic humor of the bawdier tales. Rinkel’s wordplay is extraordinary—filled with unexpected rhymes that will delight not only those who know the originals, but anyone who appreciates accomplished playwriting. Kudos! ”

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