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"Jon Caren has an incredible gift: writing plays that are vastly different in style and structure, but that each take a hilarious, often brutal look at people on the verge of self-discovery"
-Janine Nabers, The Brooklyn Rail |
PLAYS
CANYON
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What does it mean to be driven by purpose? What happens when purpose collides with ideals? Canyon takes a look at what happens when the lives of two families are rocked by an unpredictable accident. We meet a newlywed couple and a Mexican father and son as they all try their best to find a better view. A look at gender, citizenship, and the costs of trying to live a conventional, American life.
Development: IAMA Theater (Dir. Adrienne Campbell-Holt), Williamstown Theater Festival Reading (Laura Savia), Premiere Stages Playwright’s Festival, Reading, IAMA Theater (Dir. Danny Goldstein), Echo Lab Reading (Dir. Danny Goldstein) |
Cast: 4M, 2W
Productions: Los Angeles Premiere, IAMA Theater Company (Dir. Whitney White) |
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
Los Angeles Times
“CRITIC’S CHOICE… [a] sharply observed and suspenseful new dark comedy… shrewd humor, and the actors take an infectious pleasure in sending up uncomfortably relatable characters while also making their choices seem plausible throughout the many twists of the plot” — Margaret Gray, Los Angeles Times
Stage Scene LA
“WOW!… EXPLOSIVE… performances could not be finer… razor-sharp direction… playwright Caren proves himself a master at keeping an audience on the edge of their seats while providing plenty of food for thought. Expect to be riveted throughout.” — Steven Stanley, Stage Scene LA
Theatre Notes
“TERRIFIC, TIGHTLY PLOTTED… plunges head long into the territory of the current time… played with gusto by a first class cast of superb actors… inspired direction” — Paul Myrvold, Theatre Notes
Los Angeles Times
“CRITIC’S CHOICE… [a] sharply observed and suspenseful new dark comedy… shrewd humor, and the actors take an infectious pleasure in sending up uncomfortably relatable characters while also making their choices seem plausible throughout the many twists of the plot” — Margaret Gray, Los Angeles Times
Stage Scene LA
“WOW!… EXPLOSIVE… performances could not be finer… razor-sharp direction… playwright Caren proves himself a master at keeping an audience on the edge of their seats while providing plenty of food for thought. Expect to be riveted throughout.” — Steven Stanley, Stage Scene LA
Theatre Notes
“TERRIFIC, TIGHTLY PLOTTED… plunges head long into the territory of the current time… played with gusto by a first class cast of superb actors… inspired direction” — Paul Myrvold, Theatre Notes
THE RECOMMENDATION
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Aaron is smart, privileged and liked by everyone. Iskinder, his college roommate, is modest, unconnected and comes from a middle-class immigrant family. Soon the best of friends, Aaron takes Iskinder under his wing, sharing his world of favors and fortune. But the safe haven of college only lasts so long, and once in the real world, Aaron is thrust into a terrifying situation without his familiar safety net. As the tables turn and he is forced to rely on an accused felon’s connections to keep him safe, both Aaron and Iskinder have to rethink the meaning of friendship and where loyalty has its limits.
Development: The Roundabout Underground 2013 Reading Series (Dir. Laura Savia) Berkshire Playwright’s Lab, Mahaiwe Theater (Dir. Dan Winerman) The Manhattan Theater Club’s 2011 7@7 Reading Series (Dir. Evan Cabnet) |
Cast: 3M
Productions: Los Angeles Premiere, IAMA Theater Company (Dir. Laura Savia) New York Premiere, The Flea Theater 2013, (Dir. Kel Haney) World Premiere, Old Globe, Sheryl & Harvey White Theater (Dir. Jon Munby), Windy City Playhouse (Dir. Jonathan Wilson) Awards: Winner 2012 CRAIG NOEL AWARD –Most outstanding new play. |
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
Hollywood Reporter
“Playwright Jonathan Caren gets us drunk on the words without losing his own head. Thoughtful, often trenchant...the first act in particular sizzles with heightened, unforced rhetoric that the players spew with apparent effortlessness, giddy with their fluency of expression and the peculiar beats of their individual intellects.” — Myron Maisel, Hollywood Reporter
Chicago Theatre Review
“...Jonathan Caren’s explosive drama is an absolute must-see. It’s about who you know and how that certain person with connections can be of use to you.” — Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review
WWTW-Chicago
“...the feverish interlocking dramas of Caren’s characters blast their way into your consciousness.”
— Hedy Weiss, WWTW
Picture This Post
“...poignant and deft Caren’s script is in revisiting how class and race define our there-but-for-fortune outcomes.”
— Amy Munice, Picture This Post
San Diego Tribune
“The mastery of shifting tones that Jonathan Caren exhibits in this Old Globe world premiere would be a feat for any playwright, but it’s all the more impressive considering the piece is Caren’s first properly produced work.” — James Hebert, San Diego Tribune
Hollywood Reporter
“Playwright Jonathan Caren gets us drunk on the words without losing his own head. Thoughtful, often trenchant...the first act in particular sizzles with heightened, unforced rhetoric that the players spew with apparent effortlessness, giddy with their fluency of expression and the peculiar beats of their individual intellects.” — Myron Maisel, Hollywood Reporter
Chicago Theatre Review
“...Jonathan Caren’s explosive drama is an absolute must-see. It’s about who you know and how that certain person with connections can be of use to you.” — Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review
WWTW-Chicago
“...the feverish interlocking dramas of Caren’s characters blast their way into your consciousness.”
— Hedy Weiss, WWTW
Picture This Post
“...poignant and deft Caren’s script is in revisiting how class and race define our there-but-for-fortune outcomes.”
— Amy Munice, Picture This Post
San Diego Tribune
“The mastery of shifting tones that Jonathan Caren exhibits in this Old Globe world premiere would be a feat for any playwright, but it’s all the more impressive considering the piece is Caren’s first properly produced work.” — James Hebert, San Diego Tribune
NEED TO KNOW
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Lilly and Steven are smart, talented, and charming. Their new neighbor is not. After moving into a new apartment, they meet the man they now share a wall with—Mark Manners, an aspiring fiction writer and longtime tenant of the building. Lilly and Steven proceed to Google-stalk Mark and have a field day mocking his website…only to realize the walls are thin. Did he hear everything they said about him? When they try to resolve the newfound tension, it escalates in ways none of them could ever predict.
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Cast: 2M, 1W
Productions: Roque Machine (Los Angeles) |
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
Los Angeles Times
“Caren…keeps surprises and red herrings in constant churn while having a high time with a symbolic pair of fish in a bowl.”
—Daryl H. Miller, Los Angeles Times
LA WEEKLY
“The characters in Jonathan Caren’s contemporary comedy NEED TO KNOW use Facebook and the internet to glean information about others, but while technology plays a pivotal role here, the playwright’s primary concern is ethics: specifically, how we treat the misfits among us—those who may not conform to conventional standards of beauty and behavior”
— Deborah Klugman, LA Weekly
LASplash
“NEED TO KNOW is a play for the 21st Century with some subtle…gaffes at society’s perpetual attachment to cell phones, laptops social media, and Googling. Additionally, some hysterical but sobering questions are raised about privacy—or the lack thereof—in today’s world. Playwright Jonathan Caren brilliantly blends funny and frightening with serious topical concerns.”
—Elaine L Mura, LASplash.com
Stage Scene LA
Seductively suspenseful…a provocative psychological cat-and-mouse game with some neat Hitchcockian touches…[Caren] knows how to keep us guessing…” --StageSceneLA.com.
Los Angeles Times
“Caren…keeps surprises and red herrings in constant churn while having a high time with a symbolic pair of fish in a bowl.”
—Daryl H. Miller, Los Angeles Times
LA WEEKLY
“The characters in Jonathan Caren’s contemporary comedy NEED TO KNOW use Facebook and the internet to glean information about others, but while technology plays a pivotal role here, the playwright’s primary concern is ethics: specifically, how we treat the misfits among us—those who may not conform to conventional standards of beauty and behavior”
— Deborah Klugman, LA Weekly
LASplash
“NEED TO KNOW is a play for the 21st Century with some subtle…gaffes at society’s perpetual attachment to cell phones, laptops social media, and Googling. Additionally, some hysterical but sobering questions are raised about privacy—or the lack thereof—in today’s world. Playwright Jonathan Caren brilliantly blends funny and frightening with serious topical concerns.”
—Elaine L Mura, LASplash.com
Stage Scene LA
Seductively suspenseful…a provocative psychological cat-and-mouse game with some neat Hitchcockian touches…[Caren] knows how to keep us guessing…” --StageSceneLA.com.
FOUR WOKE BAES (ON THE RUBY HORSE THIEF)
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Over the course of a long night of drinking, fire building, and smore making our groom-to-be, Dez, comes to question the very nature of love and monogamy. Rifles are drawn, stripteases are danced and secrets are unearthed as this quartet of friends comes together and falls apart. Cynical and raw, hilarious and squirm inducing, this raucous #metoo era play asks the question of how liberal "woke" boys really are when they’re alone together, out in nature, beers in hand.
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Cast: 4M
Productions: Edinburgh Fringe Premiere August 2019 |