Friends Like These

Wonderfully well acted and directed, this is an incredibly moving story portrayed with love and sincerity by each of the actors. If the ending doesn't leave you shaken, you're just not an actual human being. Heartbreaking and beautifully and painfully well acted and directed.... full review

This play is an amazing piece of art that calls attention to an important and pertinent topic. Thank you for producing this beautiful show that really grabs the attention of audiences and asks them to carefully think about the world we live in today. Actors Scott Sharma and Sean Flanagan gave an incredibly real performance that managed to portray real characters with flaws, emotions, and achingly human moments. I urge everyone to see this show. ... full review

A MUST SEE. Gregory Crafts has crafted a painfully relevant, timely, topical, truthful drama, brought flawlessly to life by an impeccable cast. As heavy as the subject matter is, the play deserves extra points for never teetering into melodrama, and maintaining a lightness and infectuous warmth, through Crafts' deft blend of humor with the play's more dramatic moments. Los Angeles needs more thought-provoking, socially conscious fare like this. Catch it before it's well-earned trip to San Diego Fringe.... full review

Midway through this show, I was a bit upset, under the assumption that I knew where it was going, and it wasn't a direction I cared for. Making that assumption was a mistake, on my part, as the messages of the play and the tendencies of the characters in it are blurrier than I had assumed, and while I worried it might try to tackle this issue with simplistic moralism and a clear-cut resolution in a situation where there clearly is none, it proved to be an even more impressive piece of art than I had hoped initially. The performances are strong, with several performers I hadn't previously seen delivering strong performances, in roles that could potentially be very taxing as the shifts in the show between the silly fun of LARPing and the heav... full review

This was a good show with a talented cast. Well done.... full review

Friends Like These is a MUST see. The writing is great and really portrays these sensitive topics and issues from a truthful and personal place. This production was full of great directorial and acting choices. The whole cast brought these characters to life on stage in a whole new way. Each member of the cast brought something special to the stage and shared great moments with the audience (Scott Sharma and Sean Flanagan in particular). They shined individually and as an ensemble. The dynamic between Sharma, Flanagan and Lappin was great. The topics and themes in Friends Like These are very relative to today and very close to home for many of us. I laughed and cried through out the entire show. By the end of the show I could tell that e... full review

The level of emotional intelligence, language and teen experientiality of the material is spot on, thus, and relevant as all hell. Read the full review at: http://giaonthemove.com/2014/06/09/17383/... full review

A smart, serious and often funny look at the dark side of one of America's most serious and seemingly unsolvable problems. ... full review

Gregory Crafts has written an insightful play about what teens must deal with daily in high school, both the good and the bad. Taking his inspiration from the Columbine shooting, Crafts has put together an assortment of characters easily recognizable from the Geeks to the Jocks and the Popular crowd, letting us see both the camaraderie with their peers and bullying from their haters, for whatever reason. Produced by Theatre Unleashed and directed by Wendy Gough Soroka at the intimate Elephant Space, the show takes a hard look at what we now call bullying in the years before the term became common place or Facebook and Twitter carried the practice to the internet. The five students are all trying to find their way, never mentioning any h... full review

The acting was good. Could have used a lot less profanity. Good job starting and ending on time.... full review