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Larry Rinkel

Recommended by Larry Rinkel

  • A Merry Cougar Christmas by Daniel Guyton
    8 Dec. 2018
    “ Who knows what those sweet old widows are doing when they hang out at the mall? Well, Sylvia has her eyes on the hot young twenty-somethings she likes to pick up to make her feel young. But this Christmas Eve, it's her more cautious friend Ethel who is the object of sexy young Miguel's attentions. Interesting questions raised here about sexuality of women and the elderly. ”
  • Dominic the Donkey Gets Laryngitis by Daniel Guyton
    8 Dec. 2018
    “ You can have "Jingle Bells" and "The Little Drummer Boy," but "Dominic the Chistmas Donkey" is the best Christmas song ever. How Signor Pangellini and his donkey wind up in an American doctor's office is beyond me, but enjoy Dan Guyton's hilarious little play for its inspired silliness and every pun imaginable on a certain part of the body where the sun don't shine. ”
  • Not Your White Christmas by Diana Burbano
    7 Dec. 2018
    “ How can you resist a play that features a character who first says "I hate Christmas" and later, "Christmas is triggering"? In just seven pages, Diana Burbano juggles at least a dozen balls in the air as her little two-hander deftly touches on race, income inequality, middle America, a bisexual father, liberalism, MAGA, gluten-free cookies, and no doubt more. It's a charmingly humorous piece, yet with a touch of sentiment as half-black, half-Jewish Martin proposes to Latinx Jaqui by offering an engagement ring taped to a Bernie 2020 pin. ”
  • Personal Histories by Jerry Slaff
    31 Oct. 2018
    “ From the start of "Personal Histories" I felt I was in the hands of a master craftsman who knew exactly what he was doing, and who shaped a tidy little noir with overtones of "The Maltese Falcon," hitting many of the key expectations of the genre in such a way that revelation after revelation unfolds in increasingly tense and exciting fashion. The play is well-paced, features snappy dialogue, seems well-researched in science and art, and I hope gets picked up by any theatre Jerry Slaff cares to submit it to. ”
  • The Rowan Knight by Karen Fix Curry
    31 Oct. 2018
    “ In this 1-act atmospheric tale of a medieval knight rescued from death by a witch whom no one else can see, the witch comes to regret her decision to save the knight who doesn't love her and casts him aside to suffer through numerous lifetimes. Centuries later he achieves a momentary reprieve through the kindness of a descendant. Karen Fix Curry's tale achieves the ends of good folklore by suggesting that even though a world of witches and fairies may not literally exist, the fantasy of humans interacting with them can lead only to harm on both sides. ”
  • Charlie's Enormous Cock by Pete Bakely
    30 Oct. 2018
    “ Yes, it means what you think. Shades of John Wayne and Lorena Bobbitt, this hilarious comedy for four women and a severed penis (its former owner's "only positive quality") has plenty of good farce to it. But it's also a tale of domestic abuse and spousal rape, complete with a female cop who'll look the other way if the evidence is destroyed. (Which it is, thanks to a friendly garbage disposal.) Meanwhile, Bakely has a wealth of ideas for how to put his eponymous prop through all kinds of humiliations; never has a disembodied penis suffered so. ”
  • 3 To A Session: A Monster's Tale by DESI MORENO-PENSON
    30 Oct. 2018
    “ Don't expect anything like a standard plot and characters from this strange but evocative dream-like fantasy of a man and two women caught in an endless ritual where they must play out a "session" that they can never get quite right. Images of sex, incest, self-mutilation, a violent father, genitalia sometimes gone missing, and a Frankenstein-like monster pervade this surrealistic tale. The dialogue and characters are strong and memorable even if I confess I'm not sure what it all means. But perhaps I'm not supposed to, and this is a playwright not afraid to take risks. ”
  • Two Cats Explain the Monstrous Moth Group by Ian Thal
    28 Oct. 2018
    “ Highly original and totally beyond rational explanation. Ian creates a delightfully witty animal fable that calls on concepts of math and physics that are completely over *my* head, but then again most things are and that doesn't matter a bit. This is pure fantasy, cerebral but humorous, and I hope it gets a lot of recognition. ”
  • The Boy on the Beach by Matthew Weaver
    25 Oct. 2018
    “ A poetic and beautifully written fantasy suggestive of an adolescent boy's initiation from childhood to sexual awakening. Weaver leaves open the possibility that this could be either the sleeping boy's dream or a supernatural magic realism. The play is ambiguous: are the three young women innocent initiators of a passive, semi-nude boy's first sexual awareness, or are their motives more sinister and self-serving? There are suggestions of sirens, vampires, Dracula, plus an unseen cautionary voice. "I don't have good intentions." "Shouldn’t someone say again how wrong this is?" "But it's fiction, a fantasy." "Sugar on our tongues." ”
  • SH*T TRAIN by Rachael Carnes
    23 Oct. 2018
    “ As with her "In Training," Rachael again masterfully caricatures the often insane world of work. In "Sh%t Train" or "Sh#t Train" (however you wish to spell it), the poor employee has no idea if (s)he's coming or going, as the employer is such an expert at gaslighting and giving mixed signals. I have no idea how Rachael came to know the boss I worked for in my last job, because she nails him (or her). ”

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