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Jillian Blevins

Recommended by Jillian Blevins

  • Founders, Keepers by Aurora Behlke
    27 Jun. 2023
    “ In the past several years, we’ve seen many excellent plays about adolescent girlhood; FOUNDERS, KEEPERS stands out amid the pack in its portrayal of tween girls rewriting the US constitution as the country burns. Exceptionally funny, tender-hearted, truthful and prescient, Aurora Behlke’s political allegory hits so many unexpectedly perfect notes. Her premise reminds us that America is a young country, that words are meaningless without action, and that nothing lasts forever. Our nation’s own painful adolescence may be just beginning, but with writers like Behlke making themselves heard, the kids may just be all right. ”
  • Echo & Narcissus Blast Third Eye Blind Outside a Diner in New Jersey at 2AM by Brandon Monokian
    24 Jun. 2023
    “ High school heartache has its own gravity; decades pass, and still we’re pulled towards the moments—and people—who taught us who we are.

    Brandon Monokian’s poetic and sensitive ECHO & NARCISSUS… is a painfully relatable meditation on queer longing, and how our formative relationships define our lives, even as we try to leave them in the past. A metatheatrical twist (the playwright-protagonist has written his own Echo and Narcissus play) and the powerful marriage of structure and content (stars feature prominently, and the narrative itself orbits one fateful night) elevate this sentimental ode to unrequited love. ”
  • Rocket Yourself to the Moon by Charlotte Lang
    24 Jun. 2023
    “ ROCKET YOURSELF TO THE MOON’s premise—a mega-corporation’s quest for “full market penetration” leads to the destruction of the planet—should be absurd. What’s truly horrifying is just how close to reality Charlotte Lang’s existential nightmare of a play hews.

    The playwright tempers her scathing indictment of capitalist myopia with surreal touches (tap dancing minions! Never ending drug side effects! A moldy rat-cow mascot costume!) and pitch-perfect corporate gibberish (“the Marketing Director works closely with the Director of Marketing,”) bristling with Brechtian flair. A hilarious and terrifying satire of late stage capitalism. ”
  • stuffed by claire dettloff
    21 Jun. 2023
    “ Claire Dettlof has a knack for writing women as we are as opposed to how we’re expected to be. The world is obsessed with our bodies, but really, so are we. This raunchy, goofy, relatable 10-minute bitch-fest is full of perfect one-liners and slumber-party fun. ”
  • Simon Says by Erin Moughon
    18 Jun. 2023
    “ SIMON SAYS rests on an original premise: just as “Ring Around The Rosy” couches a deadly warning about the Black Death in a children’s game, so does the play’s eponymous game—to increasingly disturbing, violent effect. Erin Moughon’s surefooted genre piece hits all the right notes, laugh out loud one moment and spine-chilling the next. Her sly references to conspiracy theories like The Illuminati in her original lore (and the restraint she shows by showing us just enough of it) reveal her to be a literate and practiced storyteller. And what gnarly fun for three actresses! ”
  • Radio Ghosts by Greg Romero
    17 Jun. 2023
    “ Non-linear storytelling isn’t new, but it can feel gimmicky or unmotivated. Not so in this metaphysical miracle of a play in which reality spins around one unendurable, unnameable moment, the narrative orbiting it, unable to escape its gravity.

    RADIO GHOSTS is carefully crafted with tremendous economy. Here, form and content reinforce each other; heady discussions of quantum physics and the human brain illuminate the structure of the play, helping us piece together the mystery at its center.

    Sound is integral to RADIO GHOSTS, providing any designer with the opportunity of a lifetime.

    A haunting tale. ”
  • Buzz by Hope Villanueva
    16 Jun. 2023
    “ How do women define ourselves? What makes us fulfilled? Or valuable? And how does a sexist culture force us to compare ourselves and compete for those precious few spots at the table?

    BUZZ’a beautifully written characters offer fantastic opportunities for actresses—from prickly, determined Alicia, to patient peacemaker Eden to Lizzie, the open-hearted idealist. Their shared quest to save the bees from invasive murder hornets (remember those?) creates parallels between environmental crises and existential ones. The theatrical device of the adorable bees and the terrifying hornet (anxiety made manifest) would be a delight to stage.
    ”
  • Worm Teeth by Kelsey Sullivan
    16 Jun. 2023
    “ WORM TEETH is a raucous, weird and wild fable equally obsessed with violence and adorable, fuzzy-wuzzy cuteness. “Twee body-horror” isn’t a genre I ever imagined existing, but after reading this play, I can’t imagine a world without it.

    We often forget that “play” is a verb. Kelsey Sullivan’s play does just that. It revels in joyful audience interaction which lets us in to her surreal playground and invites us to join in on the game. Beneath the free-wheeling fun, there lies a lingering question: in a brutal world, is it okay to be soft? ”
  • Monarchs by Danielle Frimer
    16 Jun. 2023
    “ Danielle Frimer has performed a two-pronged miracle: 1.) authentically captured the rhythms and energy of Jewish families without a stereotype in sight, and 2.) written a coming out play that’s at once deeply, heart-rendingly relatable and wholly original.

    The Moteks feel so real, their family rituals, mythologies and foibles evidencing both their dysfunction and fierce love for one another.

    Frimer’s protagonist gives voice to primal, universal fears—loneliness, failure, rejection—that resonate with anyone with a heart. Her version of Peter Pan sparkles with punny ebullience and mischievous magic, inviting us to get unstuck—to remember being young—to fly. ”
  • Is Anyone Watching This? by Rebecca Kane
    16 Jun. 2023
    “ IS ANYONE WATCHING THIS at first presents as a tongue-in-cheek satire before transforming into a tense existential thriller. A master of character voice and the narrative power of gesture, image, and silence, Rebecca Kane infuses each moment with a subtle, creeping dread. The voice of the (possibly malevolent) meditation app provides a foil for the unraveling protagonist, and thought provoking commentary on artificial intelligence, our reliance on technology, and our inability to cope with solitude. The play’s final moments will leave you stunned. ”

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