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Benjamin Benne

Recommended by Benjamin Benne

  • Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with Live & Active Cultures!) by Julia Izumi
    7 Aug. 2023
    “ Getting to encounter this play at OPC was a pure delight, in addition to being a rigorous dissection/deconstruction of identity. The play made me laugh so hard when reading it on the page -- but watching it performed made me laugh harder than any other play I can remember in years. It's brilliantly constructed by drawing a parallel between the consumption of yogurt and films (as culture), then does another mirror effect between Akira and the playwright in a deeply personal and affecting way. Can't wait to see this play fully produced. ”
  • Lessons by Matthew Chong
    3 Apr. 2023
    “ I'm in awe of this play. It gripped me with mystery from the first scene and skillfully doled out one event after another that kept me riveted as I continued reading. The dialogue is sophisticated and feels lived-in. The characterizations are rich and dimensional. It's a satisfying blend of elegant structure, honest storytelling, and provocation (without being gratuitous or shocking). My congrats to Matthew. ”
  • TRAYF by Lindsay Joelle
    4 Mar. 2022
    “ I read this hilarious play years ago but getting to (finally) see it on the Geffen stage, it has bloomed even further into one of the most beautiful plays I've gotten to experience. The characters' desires run so deep. The dialogue is stunning. The scenes are economic and precise. And the reversals hit hard. The exploration of faith is profound and the (rare) depictions of male friendship are the most tender and moving I've ever seen. ”
  • Love I AWETHU Further by a.k. payne
    26 Nov. 2021
    “ It begins with several intimate, two-person interactions that steadily reveal a larger, complicated web of a community and its factions...who are we loyal to? The action of the play never lets up snowballing into some of the most stunning and gripping scenes I've ever encountered. The consensus scene: brilliant (& I've never seen anything like it). The scene about the definition of love: sublime. I am in awe of this play. ”
  • #NewSlaves by Keelay Gipson
    28 Jun. 2021
    “ The level of vision and craft here is astounding. The play ties threads from the past to the present -- using the choreography of bodies as well as characters speaking to each other through time (and clever "time out" asides) -- that make the work's scope some of the greatest in magnitude that I've encountered while also delicately and precisely allowing its web of characters to be depicted in an intimate and multifaceted manner. The dialogue is fantastic, the characters are complicated, and its ideas about legacy sharply drawn. A tour-de-force! ”
  • CRH (or, the placenta play) by Keelay Gipson
    5 May. 2021
    “ An intimate portrait of three couples that form a web of friendships -- each grappling with the staying power of their romantic relationships and the next steps in deepening them. The events are assembled to have a clear engine through the story while the spectacular dialogue around them is a skillfully crafted dance of naturalism. Honestly, the premise is unlike anything I've encountered before -- and the resistance to tie the various threads of this play up in a neat resolution is to be applauded. Life is messy and complicated and I appreciate that truth is reflected in the form. ”
  • You Will Get Sick by Noah Diaz
    22 May. 2020
    “ A poetic and darkly comic piece that explores what it means to live in a distinct body, and the inevitable decline in health of that body. The brilliant character arc shows deterioration through pliable limbs becoming rigid hay and the metaphor of death is ever present with circling prehistoric birds waiting to snatch up the humans below. The play also deftly depicts the decline of empathy within our society and the commodification of healthcare and care-taking. I can't think of a more relevant play in the time of COVID-19. Also, it's laugh out loud hilarious. A real stunner. Bravo, Noah! ”
  • Another Kind of Silence by L M Feldman
    26 Feb. 2020
    “ The standout at Denver Center's New Play Summit this year. It's language is jawdropping gorgeous and the relationships are some of the most delicate and sophisticated I've seen on stage in a while. The overall form, that pulls from Greek conventions and myth to invoke a chorus and an Orpheus/Eurydice parallel, is so innovative and brilliant. The play reaches beyond mere thought or emotion to a spiritual plane that made me think about the limits of language and how much weight and meaning a silence can hold. It's so achingly beautiful; I was holding my breath at the end. ”
  • Dark Play or Stories for Boys by Carlos Murillo
    30 Oct. 2019
    “ A brilliantly constructed play of two strands that continue braiding with persistent mystery, yummy repetition of language and images, and steady, satisfying reveals. There are also pops of humor, violence, and poetry in unexpected and thrilling measure. Utilizing Nick's narration as the lens into the story allows for a expressionistic framework and the brilliant premise of: who's side of a story can you really trust? ”
  • TENDER ROUGH ROUGH TENDER by Sarah Saltwick
    12 Jul. 2019
    “ This play's characters and world are magnetic. Reminiscent of the world as we might recognize it but with an absurdist hint that makes it a little slippery, hard to pin down, and laugh out loud funny. I love the images of the world being on fire as these two people keep drinking and drinking -- but will they connect before everything goes up in flames? Also, the use of the abstract gestures in this play was one of the most influential theatrical devices to me as a young writer. ”

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