←Recommendations of Ravage

Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize RAVAGE by Nina Ki as a Semi-Finalist for the 2022 Premiere Play Festival. RAVAGE rose through a competitive selection process conducted by Premiere staff and a panel of outside theatre professionals to become one of 35 semifinalists out of 655 submissions. The panel found the imagery of Yuli’s surreal nightmares and her trauma manifesting as a vampire to be striking. It tackles heavy subject matter with authenticity and humor, in a way that would appeal to Gen Z and Millennial audiences. Our congratulations to Nina.

A play about a teenage vampire hunter who writes Buffy slash fiction? YES. This play is in turn compelling, creepy, surprising, sweet, and one of the fastest reads you'll find. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

In RAVAGE, Nina Ki uses the lens of pop culture to look at the ways in which we attempt to process trauma and how that can affect our relationships with the people in our lives. I found the character of Arsenic to be be particularly compelling, as a sort of trauma tourist or vampire in her own right. It was my love of Buffy that drew me to this play, and I’m glad it did, because it led me to a highly original, nuanced piece of theatre. Everyone should give this play a read.

This is a powerful play, written in the voice of a traumatized teen who struggles to cope with a harrowing time in her life. She delves into the dark spaces of vampire lore and walks the tightrope between dark fantasy and reality. The writing is very clever, and at the same time traces the process of breaking through the psychological barriers we set up to safeguard our minds from personal horror, and provides a means for healing. Great for teens and adults alike.

This is one of the best plays I've ever read about the emotions and reactions related to experiencing trauma. Yuli's journey of sorting through what happened to her and figuring out how to heal is powerful, as are her interactions with the complex, layered people she finds along the way.

Much like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" itself, Nina Ki cleverly uses genre tropes to explore very real and potent traumas and questions of identity. Yuli is such a compelling central character who you root for throughout the play. The toggling back and forth between dream sequences and reality is well done and I love how the two worlds come to a head as we encounter revelations about Yuli's past and what really happened to her. The end is beautiful and hopeful and a wonderful moment to end the piece on.

A brilliant exploration into the power trauma can have over our lives and how we can work to heal. Ki uses horror tropes as ways to let us into Yuli’s mind and grief process. This play does a great job at showing how scary life can be at times, while also giving hope with the power of acceptance and working to get better.