←Recommendations of Paper Cut

Years after reading this play, it has stuck with me for many reasons. First, it depicts characters and circumstances we rarely, if ever, see on stage. Second, it offers a dynamic blend of the personal and political, as the characters grapple with war-related trauma and shame, while navigating the challenges of finding (and holding onto) deep human connections. And third, the world of the play is both intensely intimate and wonderfully theatrical. A truly gripping piece of theatre.

A great play about four gay men and their various relationships to the war in Afghanistan. This is a story that needs to be told now. Even though this play takes place nearly fifteen years ago there is still so much relevant to the daily experiences of veterans. I have to belive that Kyle's story is similar to the ones many other soldiers have. I have read plays before about returning soldiers but none quite like this play. This one is very special. I hope this play gets produced all over.

This piece chokes me, beautifully and horribly. The anguish of surviving combat, trauma, and cultural repression cause such a volatile crock pot, that Rosendorf approaches with incredible emotional intelligence and grace. While the world we live in gets progressively efficient at violence, without being rote shows like this bring healing and space for that complex world of heightened pain and lost time enforced by that systemic trauma conditioning of Military culture.

Rosendorf is a rare playwright that knows how to create a play with time transitions. Jarring, quick, sometimes fluid transitions from past to present from the perspective of soldier Kyle will create an unforgettable spectacle for your audience. A spectacle that's a minefield of explosive emotions. Rosendorf achieves that while exploring subjects of masculinity, male body, gay sexuality, trauma, and war.
This is one of those plays where total design - media, lighting, sound and set - could achieve something spectacular. What a challenge for designers!

Wow! What an extraordinarily tender and complex examination of several queer men each with unique relationships to masculinity, war, and how those things intersect with their identities. Kyle is such a powerful protagonist, a bundle of nerves waiting to be exposed. I loved how this play moved along at a contemplative pace, while propelling itself intently to a suitably wrenching, sweet, and inspiring climax. Rosendorf transitions from scene to scene with boldly theatrical "cinematic" insta-cuts. Scenes bleeding into the next only serve to underscore Kyle's attempts to make sense of his fragmented life. I must see this!

Andrew is so, so good at weaving visual tapestries and striking images out of words—but it’s the real, complex characters at the center of these visuals that give his work such power. There are so many elements of this play that could easily have meandered into cliche, but instead we get a grounded, authentic exploration of trauma, homophobia, familial and romantic love, and identity. Everyone should be reading (and producing) Andrew's work!

A powerful play about a gay soldier returning home from Afghanistan having lost parts of himself both literally and figuratively. Explores PTSD and identity with brutal and violent theatricality. It’s also a tender love story between two men who have been through the worst together and individually struggle to readjust to civilian life. By the end, I was left devastated and touched by its story and characters, as well as its message: Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable with the ones who love and know you the deepest.

The power of this play - it's been some time since I've sat down with it, but I find my mind returning to it often. It's tender and violent and compassionate and complicated in the ways humans are, in the ways sexuality and war and loss and bodies are.

It is the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's pleasure to recommend Andrew Rosendorf and their play Paper Cut as a finalist for our 2017 National Playwrights Conference. The play rose through a competitive, anonymous, multileveled selection process that took nearly nine months to execute. As one of 55 finalists out of more than 1,300 submissions, the strength of its writing has allowed this work to prosper in such a competitive selection process. Our readers were struck by the play’s unique interrogation of culturally received ideas about masculinity and its urgently conceived, intersectional exploration of identity.

Timely and touching,this play is a must read if you are looking for a solid work that speaks to the aftermath of war and the US policies surrounding gender identity in the military. Plus its a damn good story. Have a look!