Recommended by Lee R. Lawing

Parent-child relationships are definitely not without their speed bumps and often make great material for plays. The Shower is no different and it's peppered with the humor that Diamond does so well. This made me nostalgic in the best of ways as the warmth that is so obviously felt between Adele and Julie resonates off the page and it wraps you in a bath robe that you just want to pull tight around you to make the feeling last!

Adams brings a very new and interesting twist to a story of madness and the web that can entrap you. I love the setting as madness and the Gothic South seem to go hand in hand. But what resonates me the most is the chilling monologue that is written and that after I finished this play, I needed time to contemplate it and digest it and appreciate if which I did immensely.

You’re drawn into this quirky comedy as easily are your the nursery rhyme but what you’re left with is a existential commentary on friendship and support groups and that even if you don’t succeed at a dream you put your mind to do, it’s the fact that you put your mind to it that matters the most!

I appreciate this play so much! Coming from a co-parenting situation like the family in this play, I'm always hit by it shouldn't matter to anyone if there is love for the child and love in the family. But there were so many "morals" that were brought in to rule over the way things would be, it makes you think of all the possibilities that were missed for an alternative way of bringing up a child so that "god" wouldn't be offended or god's flock. This is for today as much as tomorrow. Keep up the fight!!

I hear so many stories from friends of parents who didn't love them or didn't stay to raise them and I always think, how could a person be that broken inside and not have it in themselves to at least stay connected with a child as they grew up even if they didn't "want" or "love" them . There are so many duties in our lives that we've instilled around us to keep order. Sometimes it's better if we just let some of them slip from our list of responsibilities and Polak's play gives us an idea about one.

This is such an intense 10 minutes to experience reading and would be so darkly funny on stage to see. Rosenblatt presents the classic sibling rivalry story but raises the bar with the story that you need to read as it is as shocking as it is surprising and ending is just perfect.

I always enjoy the new takes on the old fairy tales, and this one is no different. Breezy and modern with a twist that I didn't see coming which is always a welcome delight!

That day was one of those that I still remember where I was and what I did. Getting the newspaper at the front door of the apartment and that shocking headline because she was the people’s princess and with a beating heart unlike all those other royals. Even if I put the queen on repeat it will never convince me that the queen was that caring or loving. But Diana was everything and what the world needed at the time. That headline screamed volumes that day but I feel that she made a difference that will never seem old

It amazes me that so much our history was pushed aside, especially while I was coming through the school system. Thankfully I did have the craving for knowledge that was beyond the pale of what I was spoon fed. That hunger made me read the histories of other cultures and people that were not just white. Diamond's play touches on this with Tanya's awakening and we are brought into another realization that there is still so much to learn and know and having a little help makes all the difference!

Whenever you read a play by Martin you can expect to be dazzled and sometimes you are amazed at what you just read. His play Art was one of the first plays I read on NPX that showed me there is possibility in any topic and this play here has once again made me think about the fragility of our own lives, of the seemingly worsening human condition and the hope that this is not the future we are getting and further more expecting without a fight.