←Recommendations of Phillie's Trilogy

A fabulous coming of age story that meanders back and forth through time to great effect. Phillie/Philip is a compelling protagonist, and the supporting cast is a fantastically colorful and well rendered group of personalities. DeVita examines childhood trauma and the lasting impact our families have on our adult selves. There is also a meaty and clever double-casting plot that reinforces those themes beautifully. I'd love to see this highly theatrical piece on its feet.

A big, ambitious, fast-paced play centering on the gay writer Phillie/Philip and his break with the teenage friend Barbie/Barbara whom he impregnated. But above all it's the vital characters and dialogue, Phillie's mother Veronica especially, that makes this such a fun, involving play. Pay particular attention to the doublings as you read; they're carefully thought out and evocative. And think about how different life was back in the 70's for a gay teenager.

I loved this play! DeVita succeeds by completely involving you in these characters, most specifically troubled teens Phillie and Barbie. You care about what they're going through (and it is considerable), about their family dynamic, and their life back in the 70's, when parents had cocktails, smoked, and parented by yelling after the fact. The two mothers, Veronica and Grace, are memorable in their own right, both of them familiar, yet completely original. From the start, you want to know more about all these characters and their world. This play simply makes you feel you were there.

I LOVE coming of age stories, and this is an especially good one. Phillie will steal your heart the way he steals his mother's olives. DeVita has a natural, charming, acerbically honest tone throughout, and he will level you with all of the ways he captures his characters' heartbreaks and heartaches. And then he drops the mic. It's all so messy and complicated and yet DeVita manuevers through decades of complications gracefully, like a bird in flight. Like Phillie's books ... this play has teeth. It's a pleasure to sink yours into this script, and vice versa.

I could not put it down! Forward momentum in this fast-paced comic drama is a skill that DeVita has mastered, and the play pulled me along as if I rode in a little red wagon. There is so much theatricality in here packed into a very playable realism, I'm impressed. The characters lift off the page, and I get a very strong sense of exactly what this looks like onstage. Accessible and funny while exposing the homophobia of our conditioning both now and then. I remember it well, and this is a very skillful rendering!

Our memories can be manipulative things, and the stories we tell ourselves can be adjusted to make amends or carry hurts and pains for a very long time. This play is a deeply-felt work with vibrant characters who see their past and present at the same time; at times battling each other but also singing in harmony. This is an ambitious play that will touch you in ways you don't expect but also resonate. Bravo, Doug.

DeVita has put on a playwrighting showcase with his piece “Phillie’s Trilogy.” This piece is structurally ambitious, yet DeVita cohesively ties everything together in this comedic, heart-wrenching period piece. The story he so beautifully tells is a testament to his ability. The praise for this piece is well-deserved. Stupendous work, Doug!

Endearing and structurally ambitious, this quadtych offers glimpses of overlapping lives with almost novelistic reach. By focusing on distinct eras and the implications of shared crises, quotidian and existential, the story assuredly acquires layers. The sublime period details are both recognizable and eclectic (Broadway's "Over Here" and "The Joy of Gay Sex," together!) When Phillip ages his young characters via adult fiction, Phillie grows up with them, a lovely grace note. In DeVita's forgiving world, time is not only a thief, but also sometimes a great tenderizer, wearing down our gnarliest of edges. Rangy, emotionally satisfying, damn near epic.

There is so much to adore in Doug DeVita's PHILLIE'S TRILOGY. You don't have to have grown up in 70s Long Island to recognize the clear but complicated characters he puts forth in this mini-saga of a gay man's coming of age and beyond. As in the best plays, the story flows organically out of the relationships of these mortals who are trying, as best they can, to negotiate their way through the landmines of life. DeVita writes with an unerring ear for the way real people talk but with the wit and precision of a natural story-teller.

What a bittersweet comedy Doug DeVita has written about growing up gay in 1970s Long Island! The fully drawn characters all live and breathe from start to finish in a poignant tale that takes on family dysfunction, adolescent sexuality, friendship, and secrets – and dazzles you with witty and sharp dialogue all along the way. All that, and meaty roles for actors, to boot. So well done!