←Recommendations of Come Again

Dramaturgically, the way to tell a story about climate change is to shrink it. This is a tiny story about big issues, in which the stakes are intimate and personal - the "big issues" are LITERALLY the background noise to the profoundly human story of Marina, the most likely unlikely prophet. In the end, "Come Again" is a sharply funny, smart, and searingly ironic parable about the ways we twist the narrative to avoid discomfort—and a compelling argument for facing our fears for the greater good. It's a painful, hopeful, honest, and fast-moving piece that doesn't slow down.

When I was young I always felt that Jesus was like the Jesus in Come Again. One you could talk to and love and who would help you through your troubles just like the one that Marianne sees. One who maybe would put you through the specific trials, but one that would be there to help you through them all while you built the confidence for the task at hand. Funny and laugh-out-loud funny at first this play takes a tragic turn that is as emotional as it is surprising and unfortunately true to the way the world is today.

This show has a tremendous engine so that I could not stop reading! Funny and the characters are fantastic, with a twist I did not ever see coming. Come Again will have you in stitches and break your heart.

This play had me from the description of the character known as Jesus! Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend has a real gift for presenting the most difficult political issues with humor. One gets so caught up in the characters and deft comic strokes that one ends up completely unprepared for the gut punch of reality. The laugh-out-loud lines riff on biblical lore in fresh ways, but at the core is a sweet relationship between Jesus and a reluctant prophet that grows and is fully realized. The use of radio reports as a chorus is an inspired touch. A play for our time.

OMG! What a terrific, clever, funny, haunting play. Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend uses an unwilling prophet and the Messiah as an unlikely pair to warn the world of impending doom because of climate change. The scenes are neatly connected by radio programming that, in addition to some hilarious Florida man jokes, presents enough factual information to sound alarms. And the ending… shocking, yet so believable. This play ultimately is an urgent call to action. Read it. Stage it. Act now.

Hooked me from the first line and is SO FUNNY. A show like this would have been easy to be preachy, offensive, political, but avoids it entirely and I even felt like I had an epiphany or two reading this. The radio host interludes really paid off at the end. And the ending is SHOCKING - I actually gasped, and I think my being angry that it didn't end nicely the way a comedy should is exactly what a play like this needs - for the audience to leave enraged. Absolutely adore this piece.

The overarching joke of Marina, a hospice worker, having an argumentative relationship with a very cheerful vision of Jesus tickles your funny bone until it deepens into something more. I love His rationale for why He won’t COME AGAIN, the one-liners, the sense of urgency for our impending environmental doom, the scene in the back of the police car, and how the play builds momentum until its perfect conclusion. The parable of the two cooks and the banana bread recipe is genius. Don’t be afraid. Read Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend’s fine play before it's too late for us!

This is a devastating satire on humanity's refusal to take climate change seriously. As with any good satire, there is plenty of humor on the way to a chilling ending. The characters are well drawn. Three of the four are engaging and sympathetic, one is an unapologetic villain. So much that is so important is said so well in this piece.

This play is such a joy to read, with a whiz-bang beginning, a jaw-dropping ending, and laugh-out-loud dialogue on every page in between. Its sly comic tone elicits much more than laughter, though, since its message is so urgent and so passionately (and persuasively) presented throughout the entire script. All in all, a brilliant and highly entertaining satire ... and very deserving of wide production!!

Is it ironic that I read the final moment, sat back, and said, "Jesus fuck." It's hard not to imagine the film "Don't Look Up" while reading this, in a way, but they're quite different. There was a sense of destined, fatalistic despair to "Don't Look Up." Feriend has a different ethos altogether. There is nothing destined. We have choices... and sometimes we fail. Sometimes we fail in such a way as to fall into utter tragedy.

But at least we tried. Because the end isn't the point. It is, but it isn't. Trying is the point. We've gotta try.