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Kerr Lockhart

Recommended by Kerr Lockhart

  • Blinded by Ross Tedford Kendall
    14 Oct. 2020
    “ BLINDED by Ross Tedford Kendall is clearly written with an insider's knowledge, both of academia and of the prickly personalities therein. Moreover, Kendall is clearly bilingual, having mastered bureaucratic edu-speak and the way actual humans naturally talk, rendered with a fine ear. And the playwright is an optimist, for although the play develops a level of tension which could turn into confrontation, the actual denouement is a moment of learning, and a bridge built between different worlds. Not only a good piece of theater, but could well be useful for workshops and professional development. ”
  • Hold On by Robert Weibezahl
    9 May. 2020
    “ First of all, HOLD ON demonstrates that Robert Weibezahl has an ear. The way his characters talk is the way recognizable humans talk, and behave, as well. Second, HOLD ON is such a brilliant set-up for a play that I'm mad at myself for not coming up with it. A not-so-chance encounter at a small-town high school reunion -- Frost's two roads that diverged and made all the difference -- or maybe it didn't. Tender and vivid, with good meaty bits for the actors to strut their stuff. Extremely engaging -- audiences and actors will love this play. ”
  • PORK ROLL, EGG & CHEESE (Full-Length) by Tom Cavanaugh
    8 May. 2020
    “ If Clifford Odets had been a gentile from New Jersey and knew something about food, he might have written PORK ROLL, EGG & CHEESE, a Mulligan stew of a play with lots of varied ingredients and a lot of flavor ("I was gonna blow up that bridge when I came to it" is worth the price of admission.) It's a story about growing and accepting change, about the New in New Jersey, about family, priorities, and the unifying qualities of highly salted pork by-products. Do not produce this play unless your audiences and actors like to have good, salty fun. ”
  • The Family Room by Marjorie Bicknell
    18 Apr. 2020
    “ There's a thing that clicks in your head when you begin reading a play and you recognize the speech of actual, real, rounded human beings. In THE FAMILY ROOM, Marjorie Bicknell accurately reproduces the sound of people together in an Odetsian mix of ordinary folk thrown into extraordinary circumstances. The play eschews melodrama in favor of character development and jokes in favor of the humor of natural behavior. This play has the real beating heart of life as it is lived; and it will be an opportunity for deep and genuine communion among actors and playgoers. ”
  • Red-Pilled by Chris Gacinski
    9 Apr. 2020
    “ RED-PILLED is a rare look at mental illness from the point of view of the sufferer. Ben feels like a less-glib Holden Caufield, seeking authenticity and peace, when all he can see is hypocrisy and pain. Or a new Jimmy Porter, often inadvertently hurting those he loves in his search for truth. The family dynamic rings very true, and those roles may well prove a holiday for actors. ”
  • The Ithaca Ladies Read Medea - ONE ACT VERSION by Arthur M Jolly
    8 Apr. 2020
    “ Arthur M Jolly administers a model lesson in katharsis in the one-act version of THE ITHACA LADIES READ MEDEA. The play starts off in a polite enough fashion, but soon enough the cycle of betrayal and revenge are played out, true to its title, and it is impressive that playwright Jolly can spin this out so powerfully in such a compacted time frame, to such devastating emotional effect. ITHACA LADIES would be perfect for an evening of plays about women, or for a company eager to show off the talents and scope of their female members. ”
  • Cooler Near the Lake by Philip Middleton Williams
    4 Apr. 2020
    “ COOLER NEAR THE LAKE is written with an old-style type of craft, of the William Inge - Robert Anderson school, whereby the surface observation is so precisely accurate-- the casual joking, the deflection, the avoidance, the good manners, -- so well deployed as to demand that actors and audience collaborate to see through the characters' facades to their secret deeds and hidden wounds. The revelations come, followed by the struggle for understanding and a reconciliation that is natural, well-grounded in character and highly satisfying. There is much here for actors to work with and much for audiences to enjoy. ”
  • What Price? What Glory? by Dave Osmundsen
    30 Mar. 2020
    “ Deceptive at the start, this play begins like the usual tales of the usual unpleasantness; but patience, it evolves into a cleverly structured Russian doll of a play, with its two parts reflecting on and informing each other. Especially admirable is how it depicts the way a victim, instead of immediately retreating from or reporting their violator, often feels pressured to maintain a relationship, unwittingly undermining their own claims later. Not just a play-of-the-moment, but a meditation on how far one will go to pursue their dreams or to preserve their own self. ”
  • NELL DASH, The Gruesomely Merry Adventures Of An Irrepressibly Sensible Capitalist With A Vengeance by Doug DeVita
    20 Mar. 2020
    “ Dear Theater Producer, Is your audience thoroughly steeped up their eyeballs in NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, OLIVER TWIST, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, SWEENEY TODD and THE BEGGAR'S OPERA?Maybe TOO steeped in all those mysterious legacies, substitutions at birth, and colorful downstairs characters? Do you have a company of actors that would like to cut loose and show what they can do at full throttle? NELL DASH is not a sketch - it's a full-blown play with rich characters and a plot that twists into a merry rickrack of complications, miraculously and justly resolved at the end. Produce this play! ”
  • B/V by Chelsea Frandsen
    17 Mar. 2020
    “ If your student actors are into Divergent and Maze Runner, and up for something challenging and different, B/V would be a wonderful choice. Taut, suspenseful, tough, with a Twilight-Zone-style reversal in the ending - it's amazing how Chelsea Frandsen gets what feels like a movie into a stage environment without strain or excess exposition. The violence and language may be a bit rough-edged for your school district, but a private after-school program would have no problem. Strong characterizations, economical staging. This futuristic parable of fear will speak to student actors and audiences in a way the old chestnuts can't. ”

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