“ TRYHARD is a marvel, toggling effortlessly between laugh-out-loud moments of cringe comedy and devastating, soul-baring truth. Incisively skewering therapy-speak, the vocabulary of “healthy communication” and the barriers they place between people trying to truly connect, TRYHARD investigates how to talk to each other, and more importantly, what to say. Emily Everett’s revealing dialogue gradually exposes her characters’ neuroses, defenses, pretensions, fears, and deepest longings while remaining snappy and naturalistic. I’m thrilled to have had the privilege to see a reading of this play; I’ll be first in line for tickets for the inevitable, well-deserved first production. ”

“ For women, all horror is body horror.

Rachel Greene’s Lauren is haunted: by a culture seeking to sexualize and punish her body in equal measure, by past trauma that leaves her silenced, and (maybe) by a literal ghost.

Along with her patient, feminist boyfriend and supportive professor, Lauren deep-dives into Titus Andronicus—Shakespeare’s most unapologetically violent play—and finds herself inexorably drawn to the brutalized ingenue Lavinia. With equal parts intellect and viscera, XOXOLOLA confronts our enduring cultural obsession with the virgin/whore trope and the physical and psychological toll it exacts. A primal scream of female rage. ”

“ Nothing can be certain except death and taxes—and, it seems, the capitalist machine. Whether it’s a global pandemic or a zombie apocalypse, the job hunt and its attendant humiliations remain the same. This play takes the pejorative “corporate zombie” literally, to hilarious effect. Full of satisfying groaners (“I like a man with braaaains”) this biting (haha) satire of office culture and the norms of job interviews is just plain fun. Not to mention it offers a juicy opportunity for a fight choreographer to go wild, with a sequence that’s equal parts blood, guts, and sight gags. ”

“ Why do we so often wait to make amends until it’s too late? David Lipschutz has written a quietly moving play about the regret of estrangement, the grief of not only lost life but lost relationship, and the family bonds that transcend it all.

Lipschutz captures universal human foibles through the specific lens of Orthodox Jewish tradition. The symmetry of the titular SHOMER’s story is beautiful and profound: religion came between his brother, and in the end, religion becomes his means to say a much needed goodbye (even if he’s out of practice). Touching and smart. ”