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Jillian Blevins

Recommended by Jillian Blevins

  • A Shared Conviction by Jackie Martin
    25 Nov. 2022
    “ A SHARED CONVICTION works both as a commentary on audience expectations of older women onstage (and in life) and as a tremendously fun dark comedy in its own right. Martin’s tale of bad blood between old friends offers big fun for actresses, and great opportunities for a director to play with genre and tropes. ”
  • What the Water Gave Me by Emily McClain
    9 Nov. 2022
    “ WTWGM is an achingly beautiful marvel of a play. Utilizing startling imagery drawn from the art of Frida Kahlo, McClain explores life and death, pain and comfort, creation and deterioration. The simultaneous tenderness and loneliness of caretaking is the pulsing, bloody heart of her story of mothers and daughters.

    McClain’s Kahlo and reluctant time traveler Vivian are drawn together by mutual longing—Frida for a daughter, and Vivian for purpose, meaning, and the open-hearted nurturing she never received from her own mother. With tremendous sensitivity and evocative language, WTWGM packs two lifetimes of heartache into one powerful act. ”
  • Any Port in a Storm by Aly Kantor
    7 Nov. 2022
    “ ANY PORT IN A STORM is a sweet romance reminiscent of the best of John Patrick Shanley: that is, two broken people (with surprisingly complimentary damage) coming together despite their best efforts to push love away. Kantor’s storm provides high stakes and urgency, as well as an apt metaphor for the fear of heartbreak versus the fear of loneliness; it’s terrifying to drive recklessly out into the storm, and terrifying to face the danger alone. ”
  • Neon Glowing New by Vince Gatton
    7 Nov. 2022
    “ NEON GLOWING NEW captures the anxious optimism of 1999—the feeling of endless possibility mixed with anticipation of the unknown as we hurtled towards a new millennium. With great humor and nostalgia, Vince Gatton recalls how that moment in time created a unique chaos in young people and in their families.

    Having been a teen in ‘99, and now a parent who’s not nearly done finding myself, I appreciated the perspectives offered by both Kelly her gleefully dorky dad. ”
  • Clyt; or, The Bathtub Play by Elisabeth Giffin Speckman
    6 Nov. 2022
    “ CLYT, an astonishing retelling of Agamemnon from the perspective of Clytemnestra, is an exploration of feminine rage that grows, secretly, inside women who are often ignored and forgotten. This Clytemnestra is a woman overshadowed by her sister, subsumed by duty and motherhood, seeking solace (and perhaps rebirth) in her bathtub, who is pushed over the edge by a casually vicious betrayal. Speckman’s visceral imagery and poetically brutal prose make her play an electric read.

    CLYT is beautifully crafted, uniquely theatrical, and powerfully told. Like Clyt herself, it demands to be heard. ”
  • Mosque4Mosque by Omer Abbas Salem
    4 Nov. 2022
    “ MOSQUE4MOSQUE’s compelling protagonist, Ibrahim, is a self-destructive millennial desperate to understand himself. Assimilation doesn’t feel right, but neither does strict adherence to Islam. He loves his white boyfriend, but knows there’s a part of him he’ll never understand. He resents and fiercely loves his mother, and he alternately wants his sister Lena to be his friend or his child.

    M4M defies categorization: it’s a queer play, an immigrant play, a family play—ultimately, it’s a story about the complexities of love and identity, with an ending that’s a call to action. ”
  • The Unanticipated Betrayal of the Ongoing "Audition"-esque Situation in Kenny's Man Cave by Daniel Prillaman
    1 Nov. 2022
    “ I’ve read or seen a million plays about domestic strife; a husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend have an argument and resolve it in ten minutes. It’s very cute. It’s very tired.

    Daniel Prillaman turns the trope on its head by mashing it up with torture porn in ways that are gruesome, ironic, and hilarious. If you’ve ever had an argument with a significant other about watching a streaming show without them, you’ll relate to this one. And then feel weird about it. ”
  • DOUBLE-CROSS-DRESSING by Monica Cross
    29 Oct. 2022
    “ This witty epilogue for the primary lovers of As You Like It is full of delightful language and emotional resonance. Monica Cross is clearly a master of writing in verse, deploying a whole toolbox full of Shakespearian tricks of the trade to enhance the meaning of the text and offer actors insight into their characters. (The use of asides to highlight irony, and shared lines between Rosalind and Orlando as they approach a renewed understanding are particularly effective.) DOUBLE-CROSS-DRESSING offers an insightful truth about marriage: keeping secrets from each other erodes intimacy, while a shared secret deepens it. ”
  • The Not by Ashleigh Ann Gardner
    29 Oct. 2022
    “ On its surface, The Not is a chilling supernatural confessional. But as we go deeper into Sasha’s dark tale, the creature stalking her takes on a new significance. Her monster is real—and it may also a manifestation of her PTSD. She’s being haunted by her trauma, which no one else seems to see or believe.

    Gardener’s smart choice to leave out any descriptors of the “thing” stalking her protagonist lets our imaginations do the work, which, as all good horror writers know, makes it much scarier. The Not is heartbreaking and terrifying in equal measure. ”
  • Andean Mountains (Montañas Andinas) by Carl(os) Roa
    29 Oct. 2022
    “ Andean Mountains intentionally defies categorization. Is it a monologue? A presentation? Ultimately, it’s an invitation to join in on a desperate search for meaning. Roa uses geography as a metaphor for biography as their non-binary, Columbian-American protagonist hunts for answers about their identity amid Google Maps of the places they’ve been. Don’t we all wish we had a map to follow when we feel lost, that we could follow a marked route that ends in belonging? Andean Mountains is filled with palpable yearning for community and connection, and deserves an audience to offer it to its protagonist. ”

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