The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced EXCEPTIONAL as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We found this to be powerful piece that doesn't shy away from the heightened constrast of joy and pain, performance and heartbreak. We feel the writer's voice was confident, with intimate knowledge of the world these characters live in, and the pacing, tone and themes are all there. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

It's unreal how great this play is. "Unreal" feels like the exact right word to describe a piece that traffics in memory, reality, naturalism, surrealist moments ... but the whole thing feels complete and ACCURATE. Really, really wonderful writing of sharp characters finding themselves in tense and hilarious situations. Woot.

Shealy subverts the guady pomp and circumstance I associate with pageant culture by placing headline-making scandal at the doorstep of its competitors, and then leading us through their paths to acceptance and recovery. What comes from this method is a queer epic for generations young and old about trying to capture a moment in time, nurture it, and keep it as one's own. It was a pleasure to witness this script's development in The Workshop Theater's Fall 2021 intensive, and a privilege to read the final product.