←Recommendations of The Place That Made You

I was enraptured by this play mere pages in. Much like the whale, THE PLACE THAT MADE YOU is an absolute behemoth and - with its hauntingly beautiful dialogue and wonderfully ethereal atmosphere - swallows you whole. Equal parts expansive and intimate, it is simultaneously a biblical epic and an intensely deep character study. The people that Bruce has created here are handled with such grace and maturity that their interactions feel almost threateningly real, but trust me - you will not want to look away.

Darcy Parker Bruce’s highly theatrical “The Place That Made You” argues love can conquer death. Scenes flow between past and present, and concern Jonah, a young Trans man, who seeks purpose in his small hometown and finds it in the belly of a whale. Leaving home is hard, but returning sometimes requires a miracle. Bruce exhibits a powerful lyrical imagination in layered dialog, supernatural journeys, and poetic stage directions. The play stirred readers at the Depot with its daring juxtapositions of the intimate and the mythic. This drama took us someplace new and moved us with its beauty.

Bruce's words flow like poetry as their characters struggle with old heartaches and grief and loss. Everything is complicated and sad and weighed down by the past. The dialogue and stage directions are equally rich and vibrant, building towards an ending that's 100 times more complicated than it is happy, but still has a streak of happiness in the midst of so much world weariness. This play is so timely and relevant and lovely and warm and hard and soft and open and real. Make space for this PLACE in your theater, hug it and invite it to come stay.

I am in love with this play! What a heartbreaking and beautiful story about grief and loss. Darcy's imagery and poetic language really make this play a must-read. I'd love to see it someday. (Also amazing title. It's what immediately drew me to this play)

Darcy's writing never fails to stun with its sharp-softness, and this play is no exception. This play carries its audience on its back (or in its belly) with all the tenderness and tempestuousness of the sea. In this play, the living as well as the dead can haunt a place, even as it haunts them, the kind of dreamlike feedback loop of love and hurt we only find when we go home. Can't wait to see this piece come to life.

A haunting and heartbreaking tale of loss and alienation in small town America. A beautifully theatrical play.

THE PLACE THAT MADE YOU is a haunting (in multiple senses) play about the way the past chases us, how grief works on the body, and how the wars we carry inside and out are both gulf and bridge toward re-locating a sense of home when all seems lost. Written with compassion and purpose and an edgy surrealism full of wonder.