←Recommendations of Prayer Circle

I heard this read at the Valdez Theatre Conference and it was definitely one of the best pieces on offer at the event. Equal parts quirky small-town ensemble piece and full-grown horror story, the play starts small and continually builds in stakes and tension until the fate of the world sits on these characters' shoulders, and we're with them every step of the way. Equal parts funny and horrifying, and spectacularly timely, with a fantastic coda at the end.

I saw this reading at the Valdez Theatre Conference. For me, it was a highlight of the conference. It was one of those rare, shared experiences where everyone in the room was laughing for the first half, gripping their chairs during the second half and weeping by the time it ended. The characters are wonderfully drawn, the story is topical, and the writing is absolutely top notch. Brilliant!!!

I was all in for a quirky comic piece with an especially dynamic and enjoyable character in the form of Addy, and then I got to the reveal, which turns everything on its head in a thrilling way. The deliberate pacing is perfectly timed and precise as we learn one chilling detail after another about what is really going on here. The characters are so finely detailed and complex that everything that happens is completely believable even with the fantastic elements. The last page is a gut punch.

Just about the timeliest possible play you could read today, PRAYER CIRCLE starts out as a grounded, colorful depiction of a small town church group before slowly progressing into full-blown horror with a nicely political bent (Erik Gernand's clearly read his Stephen King and learned all the best lessons). A challenging, wonderfully disturbing play - especially since, thanks to Gernand's careful construction, you can never be completely sure if the circle is praying for who you think they are.

What starts out as a set-up for a sitcom becomes a fable of humanity and our choices to use our abilities, either real or imagined, for good. The audience is lulled in with the humor and the comedic take on some of the characters, but when one of them reveals a hidden ability, it rapidly but without melodrama becomes a morality tale of choices between good and evil, life and death. It has echoes of "The Twilight Zone" (but with donut holes) and the message is as powerful as any gospel parable.

This play is such an intense journey. The premise is chilling. It is very timely and heavy in its relevance to our contemporary political situation. But the moral question it raises gives the play resonance beyond this current moment. The tension is stretched tightly from beginning to end with a steady string of complications and reveals that kept me invested. The characters are so real and sympathetic. Finally, despite the play's gravity, it's filled with humor and moments of comic relief.

Premiere Stages, the professional Equity theatre company in residence at Kean University, is pleased to recognize Prayer Circle as a Semi-Finalist for the 2025 Premiere Play Festival. Prayer Circle rose through a competitive process conducted by Premiere staff and an external panel of professionals to become distinguished among 805 submissions. The panel was impressed by the play’s vivid characters and the compelling, well-paced journey they took us on. Our congratulations and thanks to Erik.