Recommended by David Templeton

  • David Templeton: GREAT WHITE by Deborah Yarchun
    “

    I read this play a couple of years ago, and continue to think about it. Especially when I see anything about sharks. Of course, it's not really about sharks so much as it's about the way one broken family functions, and its ideas have a true power to stick with you and linger long afterwards. But then ... sharks. This is a great play.

    I read this play a couple of years ago, and continue to think about it. Especially when I see anything about sharks. Of course, it's not really about sharks so much as it's about the way one broken family functions, and its ideas have a true power to stick with you and linger long afterwards. But then ... sharks. This is a great play.

    ”
  • David Templeton: dead genius by K.T. Peterson
    “

    Upon finishing K.T. Peterson's '/genius,' I went back to the beginning to read this tricksy tangle of interwoven vignettes again. Once I saw what the playwright had been up to all along – and why there is that all-important forward slash in the title - I wanted to dip my brain back into Peterson's gorgeously human, entertainingly tragic dialogue and psyche-baring wordsmithery. The transitional musical elements could be a challenge for some theaters, but if pulled off, together with the disarmingly unpredictable storytelling, could make for a truly transcendent theatrical experience. I loved...

    Upon finishing K.T. Peterson's '/genius,' I went back to the beginning to read this tricksy tangle of interwoven vignettes again. Once I saw what the playwright had been up to all along – and why there is that all-important forward slash in the title - I wanted to dip my brain back into Peterson's gorgeously human, entertainingly tragic dialogue and psyche-baring wordsmithery. The transitional musical elements could be a challenge for some theaters, but if pulled off, together with the disarmingly unpredictable storytelling, could make for a truly transcendent theatrical experience. I loved this.

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    ”
  • David Templeton: Young Money by Erlina Ortiz
    “

    A funny, engaging, alternately charming and challenging play (in the best sense of that word) about the pitfalls and rewards of communication, and the importance of seeing past surfaces to connect with our shared humanity. These characters have stayed alive for me ever since I read Ortiz's remarkable, deceptively non-complicated play (it's so much more complex that it at first appears), and I look forward to seeing them come alive sometime in a fully staged production.

    A funny, engaging, alternately charming and challenging play (in the best sense of that word) about the pitfalls and rewards of communication, and the importance of seeing past surfaces to connect with our shared humanity. These characters have stayed alive for me ever since I read Ortiz's remarkable, deceptively non-complicated play (it's so much more complex that it at first appears), and I look forward to seeing them come alive sometime in a fully staged production.

    ”
  • David Templeton: Atlas, the Lonely Gibbon by Deborah Yarchun
    “

    One of those plays I read through in one sitting, then started over again to see how it reads once you know everything that's actually going on. And the second experience is as entertaining, intense and funny as the first. As a working journalist and a playwright myself, I can say that Yarchun's vision of the future, while layered with genuine affection and humor to soften (some of) the blows, is frighteningly spot-on, and often feels not-so-futuristic at all.

    One of those plays I read through in one sitting, then started over again to see how it reads once you know everything that's actually going on. And the second experience is as entertaining, intense and funny as the first. As a working journalist and a playwright myself, I can say that Yarchun's vision of the future, while layered with genuine affection and humor to soften (some of) the blows, is frighteningly spot-on, and often feels not-so-futuristic at all.

    ”
  • David Templeton: Preapocalyptica by Erin Marie Panttaja
    “

    Mind-bending, challenging, thought-provoking and heart-breaking. I saw a workshop production and have literally not gone more than a couple of weeks without thinking about it since.

    Mind-bending, challenging, thought-provoking and heart-breaking. I saw a workshop production and have literally not gone more than a couple of weeks without thinking about it since.

    ”