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Claudia Haas

Recommended by Claudia Haas

  • The Spot by Bruce Karp
    13 Feb. 2020
    “ The Spot is a lovely fable about growing older and staying connected to the natural world. Karp shows us how parks can provide so much comfort and needed release in concrete cities. If you've ever fallen in love with your backyard tree or waited for the different spring blooms year after year, this play will speak to you. ”
  • Santa's Dolphins by Patrick Gabridge
    13 Feb. 2020
    “ This is one clever little ditty. Gift wrapped in a tale of magical dolphins replacing flying reindeer, Gabridge gives us so much more. This is a romantic comedy of forbidden love complete with a bow. But the romance is secondary. What matters is the tale of acceptance coupled with a fantastical consequence of climate change. A short play with long-reaching themes. ”
  • Christmas Eve Eve by Laura Pittenger
    13 Feb. 2020
    “ A jewel of a play that focuses on grief but never gets tied up in the maudlin. It has all the building blocks of life in just a few moments: love, life, loss, family, and rays of hope. Yes, it’s centered around the holidays when grief is magnified, but would be a poignant play in any program. There are so many truths. ”
  • The Berlin Diaries by Andrea Stolowitz
    12 Feb. 2020
    “ Research just gives you so much. What if you don’t want information even if it is printed on your DNA? The play is personal, historical, and even frightening in the discoveries. Secrets can be scary. How do you find lost people and reconcile them into your life? There are no easy answers but much to think about. ”
  • MADNESS MOST DISCREET: Larry and Viv's Last Visit by Donna Hoke
    12 Feb. 2020
    “ “Your charms are timeless” and so the charms of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh are in this love note to them. I devoured this as I devoured their films as a teen. In this imagining, Olivier is sick and Leigh is dying. Time does not take away from their wit or their poignant memories of their fractured life together. It’s a love story for the ages and a valentine to theatre. ”
  • FREE, 25-MINUTE, 5-MILE RIDE by Rachael Carnes
    12 Feb. 2020
    “ A play that leaves you wondering... and hoping... and you just don’t know. Who is the older gent? Is he merely commenting? Or is he protecting? Carnes takes us on an every day journey where today is different. Ordinary conversation is heightened. Ordinary activities have new meanings. Maybe there is nothing ordinary in the ordinary. And maybe there is beauty in that. ”
  • The John Wilkes Booth High School for the Performing Arts Presents: The Most Inclusive, Least Offensive Play Ever: An After School Special by Stephen Kaplan
    11 Feb. 2020
    “ This is a play that will be embraced by both teen actors and teen audiences. It’s so beautifully irreverent while “trying” to be unoffensive. Everyone in the cast has a chance to shine and Kaplan’s characters look like they are going in one direction and then surprise. The play-within-a-play is inspired by every play that ever was. Part loony-tunes and part silly-sweet, Kaplan’s take on the high school stage will send you to the next high school play in your neighborhood and if you are lucky - this will be the play. ”
  • Monroe by Lisa B. Thompson
    9 Feb. 2020
    “ Monroe tackles big themes: life, death, faith, and love. And it succeeds beautifully with finely-drawn characters, dialogue that crackles and hugs, and a story of dreamers - whose dreams are brave. Thompson engages you immediately in the first scene and never lets go. Set in the racially-charged county of Monroe, LA in the 1940’s, the play’s relevance has not diminished with time. The wonder of Thompson’s play is with her characters who look to the future while knowing they will carry their ghosts there. Home and your roots run deep. Thompson shows us how cutting them takes courage. ”
  • SECRET'S OUT by Greg Burdick
    8 Feb. 2020
    “ There’s more than a fun read here (and it is). An awakening that takes place between two men waiting outside of Victoria’s Secret leaves you thinking of what we sell, what we buy, and what we crave. Covering sexuality, relationships, aging, and the too many facets of what a woman should be, Burdick nails this challenge in this short play. The ending is an opening. ”
  • Stuffed by Jeanette Farr
    7 Feb. 2020
    “ Dark, birds of a feather, a child and her taxidermist. These are the things that nightmares are made of. With twists and turns, Farr leads us to places we have never been. And once there, we must accept all. There is no choice. ”

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