Recommended by Sheila Cowley

  • The Women of Lockerbie
    21 Dec. 2015
    A truly amazing play, exploring all the varied, real and shifting reactions to loss and to violence. I'm completely intrigued by the playwright's introduction, explaining that it was the structure of Greek tragedy that made the play work and helped audiences cope with such a devastating topic. I was bracing myself for an onslaught but the play is much more subtle, with humor and great humanity. A 360 degree look at everyone affected by violence - and just a glimpse at how to start again. A true catharsis.
  • Arsonist
    15 Dec. 2015
    So glad to see these absolutely unique characters come to life in a staged reading at the National New Play Network Showcase. Musical language, aching live music and vivid imagery I'd love to see onstage.
  • Colony Collapse
    9 Oct. 2015
    This is a huge and mystic play that's at the same time intimate, detailed and realistic. The silent lines of dialogue are so eloquent. I look forward to seeing how this grand tale of dirt and trees and knife-sharp loss will come to life onstage.
  • Believers
    9 Sep. 2015
    What seems to be a loopy satire of pharmaceutical companies with some all-too-believable ramifications, turns into a riff on The Frog Prince tale and love you can't cure even with a vaccine. Over the top fun, snappy jokes and strong women.
  • Grizzly Mama
    8 Sep. 2015
    Fiery women, vivid dialogue and fast-paced, darkly comic, desperate measures. There are lots of stories where men are driven by their father's legacy - here are impassioned women with guns tackling their mothers' long-lasting convictions. Complicated characters, twists and turns and politics and conscience. A potent play with laughs and shocking strength.
  • Human Terrain
    13 Aug. 2015
    I'll be thinking about this story for a long time. Characters and dialogue so real it's like you're suddenly eavesdropping on the anthropologist embedded with the US military in Iraq. The soldiers and the locals are all people you can feel for. A slow-burning story of the anthropologist who's pulled between both sides. A powerful play with a beautiful, breathtaking ending.
  • A MAP OF DOUBT AND RESCUE
    11 Aug. 2015
    What a beautiful and layered play - so many lines I wanted to mark in the margins, and a wealth of astute observations. It's moving and beautifully constructed, complex characters with humor, dancing and a lot of life. I'd love to see this play onstage - it's a real gift to read.
  • REALS
    29 Jul. 2015
    A very grown-up look at the question we all ask ourselves as kids - what kind of superhero could I be? A layered and compelling story full of unexpected turns, as people ask whether they could do hero-work for real, without imagined super-powers. Exciting, intriguing, funny, impassioned and heartbreaking.
  • FLOWERS IN THE DESERT (the play)/EIGHT DATES (the audio series)
    22 Jul. 2015
    The complicated dance of a not-quite-over marriage, with a moving and unexpected ending. Cheers to Donna Hoke for finding a seamless way to shift times and locations without long-drawn-out set and costume changes.
  • Wet or, Isabella the Pirate Queen Enters the Horse Latitudes
    1 Jun. 2015
    The best page one I've ever read. And that's just the first spark of a rip-roaring tale of action and poetry, wild lady pirates, laughs and profound longing - with a wonderfully questioning ending. The sound and lighting cues are simple but beautiful - it would make a wonderful production.

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