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Scott Sickles

Recommended by Scott Sickles

  • The Lover and the Fighter by Sam Heyman
    21 Apr. 2024
    “ As Salieri is the Patron Saint of Mediocrity, so I am the Patron Saint of Straight Crushes. As such, I can attest with absolute authority: Sam Heyman gets it right!

    Even when the straight guy knows and can deal, as Shawn does with Lee, there's plenty of mutual drama, strife, and emotion. This brought back vivid memories of listening to my heterosexual objects of affection waxing about their heterosexual objects of affection. (I could practically smell the beer in the carpet.)

    The culminations are powerful and honest. The affection, frustrations, and revelations are unique and surprising. Lovely stuff. ”
  • Justice Tanner's Memory Archive by Ky Weeks
    15 Apr. 2024
    “ I want more. I want more of Brynn and Justice and their history with Grandpa and their family and Mr. Pinecone. I want to know more about their world and giant rats.

    Leaving your audience wanting more is a very good sign you've given them exactly enough.

    Weeks doesn't force these characters to tell us things they themselves already know. In so doing, they've build a fascinating mystery world just on the other side of normal. One that's deeply relatable, steeped in family history and contemporary technology, and somehow adorably unsettling.

    A riveting concoction of lightness and dark. ”
  • Fallout or a Ballad of Peace and David Hasselhoff by Robert J. LeBlanc
    15 Apr. 2024
    “ I remember David Hasselhoff singing on the Berlin Wall. I don't remember it well. I was not a fan. I was busy with college. I'm sure I rolled my eyes.

    Those same eyes have been reopened by the gift of retrospect provided by Bob LeBlanc. I haven't viewed the event as the harbinger of a new age.

    I stand enlightened.

    FALLOUT is an exquisitely detailed personification of a forgotten generation so used to doomsday at our door we've been inured to petty offense. We know was a real fucking threat is.

    And most of us do not miss disco. ”
  • My Dad is a Scar by Arthur M Jolly
    21 Mar. 2024
    “ And my now heart is in a million pieces.

    There's an inheritance men pass down to their sons -- where any sign of weakness is failure and strength is everything. That there's nothing worse than crying.

    Not every son receives this bequest. Many reject it, especially boys who understand poetry and know to call it an "amphibious vehicle." (Though Julian probably got the terminology from his dad.) This legacy is not meant to harm but to protect, toughen, to make a man out of you.

    The tragedy of Julian is that he's received it. It literally lives in his skin. ”
  • ZOSHA: A MONOLOGUE by Asher Wyndham
    21 Mar. 2024
    “ Zosha bursts off the page like a trailer park Blanche DuBois! But her history, even in her 20s, is far more troubled and tragic. She never had far to fall in the first place, yet still fell further than the ground. Her life is a crater.

    Wyndham gives Zosha infinite humanity and as much dignity as her choices and circumstances allow. She's proof it's not what drags you down, but that you could claw your way back at all. Even it's just for today.

    Zosha is full of brass and nuance. Give her a chance. She's worked hard for it!

    ”
  • Trick or Treat by DC Cathro
    21 Mar. 2024
    “ Joey Ray does not like Starbursts or coconut. Talk about big red flags...

    I love a play where everything seems normal even though you know it's not. And then, suddenly, nothing is normal and things just get stranger and darker from there. The sustained setup is masterful in its mundanity. When the horror kicks in, it's equal parts soft and hard. It can't be happening... yet it could be. The payoff is all about the Why! The resolution is simple, visually stunning, and a bone chiller! ”
  • Haunt by Collin Smith
    21 Mar. 2024
    “ It's just a conversation. A friendly interview. Very professional. Ignore the screams. We can cut around them.

    In all seriousness, this straightforward Q&A between a documentarian and the proprietor of an extreme haunted house is riveting from the start. Smith uses the setting and atmosphere to instantly create a feeling of unease and suspense. The characters are terrific, Milo's unflappable journalistic professionalism clash smoothly with Stewart's machismo, slowly pulling the curtain back on his sadism.

    Audiences will certainly be discussing the ending: a shocker that's been set up from the start.

    A terrific horror-thriller. ”
  • What to Expect When You're Expecting Our Lord and Savior by Bailey Jordan Garcia
    21 Mar. 2024
    “ Much like the Lord above, Marcus and this play are OVER THE TOP!!!

    It's one thing to find your boyfriend has immaculately conceived the next Christ child but O the strain of literally being the Joseph in this situation... The histrionics escalate ever Heavenward, sweeping the audience up like marauding angels hellbent on abducting us with hilarity.

    Yet Garcia does so much more than explore a "What If?" They take a vivid look at love, especially loving someone dealing with mental illness, sticking the landing with a gut punch. Or a gut kick as it were. AMEN! ”
  • Tidal Pulls by Sheila Cowley
    20 Mar. 2024
    “ Glorious! Equally vast and intimate in its scope, TIDAL PULLS grounds us (as it were) firmly on the wet earth, connecting the bottom of the sea to the ever turning galaxies that surround us, all through the prism of a scientist with a magnificently lame sense of humor. Cowley captures the esoteric passion of science lovers and proceeds to connect everyone and everything on a quantum level with the poetry of Lee's beautiful nerdy soul. More than a monologue, it's a map of the universe. ”
  • Plot Point by Heinrich Lyle
    20 Mar. 2024
    “ Oh, I have had this conversation! Many, many times with my very own Barney. When Lou says, "Write that down" and Barney taps his forehead and replies, "It’s all up here." It was like a Time Machine.

    Lyle captures the push-pull of storyteller and sounding board. The defensiveness when the listener has too many questions or JUST DOESN'T GET IT as well as the glee when a good idea blows up. They're great characters steeped in truth.

    My real-life Barney is sadly no longer with us, so this was a lovely visit. Thanks, Heinrich! ”

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