Recommended by Andy Boyd

  • Muted.
    16 May. 2023
    A chilling minimalist play about a boy, a girl, and a ghost. David Foster Wallace said every love story is a ghost story, but is every ghost story therefore a love story? At any rate, this one certainly is. It made me think about the ways that tragedies we are only tendentially connected to sometimes tail us around, sticking in our minds far deeper than we feel they logically should. Why do certain things wound us so deeply? This seems to be one of the questions asked by this small, fragile, beautiful play.
  • Poisonville
    15 May. 2023
    A wonderful Western noir that’s as sharp and cynical as a Dashiell Hammet original — but leavened with a welcome dash (pun unintended but unavoided) of revolutionary optimism. Read it and weep, then organize.
  • FUKT
    15 Nov. 2022
    FUKT is a bracing and funny examination of some very dark and serious issues around abuse, sexuality, and identity. The three versions of Emma all have sharply-contrasting wants (though the same real needs), and watching the three of them duke it out in words throughout the course of the play creates a richly three-dimensional portrait of a person and a character.
  • PATIENCE
    25 Aug. 2022
    I saw Patience last night, and I was not bored for one second, which is very rare for me. I admit that a play about solitaire did not initially sound thrilling to me, but the way that becomes a metaphor for how even in competitive activities you're always primarily competing with yourself was subtle but incredibly effective. It's also very funny and air-tight dramatically.
  • take me down to the levee
    16 Aug. 2022
    A queer Southern gothic vampire rom-com? Need I say more? Okay, I will.

    Riley's play is so fun and fascinating. This play was the August reading for Play Date at Pete's, and the (admittedly small) house was packed, everyone on the edge of their seats. I described this play afterwards as John Waters meets John Carpenter, and I still stand by that assessment.

    ps: It's very funny Riley has tagged this play for all ages.
  • A List of Some Shit I've Killed
    2 May. 2022
    The best parodies are the ones that show an obvious love for the source material they're critiquing. Barbot's challenge in this play is parodying one of the greatest plays ever written. And folks? He nails it! Funny, moving, a genuine analysis of war and patriarchy and the woundedness of masculinity.
  • Book of Esther
    29 Apr. 2022
    I had the privilege of watching this play grow from a seed of an idea into the wonderful creation it is today. Gina has created an incredibly human and honest portrait of a community that is both next-door in Brooklyn and a cultural world apart. Her gift for dialogue will be evident to anyone who reads it but her real superpower is empathy.
  • The Bad in Each Other
    18 Feb. 2022
    Perez does it again! A deeply engrossing two-hander about art and activism, and which is the real revolution. These two characters are so well-articulated and specific, and their developing relationship sucks you in. This is the kind of play that rewards actors willing to put in the work: I looked up from the page sweating and smiling and happy and sad.
  • Randy's Dandy Coaster Castle
    6 Oct. 2021
    This is a play that is equal parts anti-capitalist screed and touching character study. Within its short runtime Alex finds room for discussing the difficulties of care work, the complexity of Cuban-American identity, and the weirdly edifying process of putting on a giant rat costume. I also got to see Alex himself in the lead role, and the guy can act, too! Unfair, I say.
  • Jew Vibing
    3 Apr. 2021
    The sneaky thing about this play is that it's incredibly funny, so you don't realize at first that it's also a play with a big, beating heart at the center of it. The vignettes detailing the travails of online dating are sharply satirical, but the depth of Girl's desire for connection lends even the silliest jokes a great deal of emotional weight. And also funny, so funny, a very funny play.

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