Reviews
Read what people are saying about the work of Robert Cole:
Songs of the Valley: Selected Plays of Robert Cole
"[F]eatures stories of people inadequately prepared for the world. Each offers its protagonists the opportunity to take a leadership role in their lives. Some succeed, others fail, some fail to try. All portray humanity at its most beautiful: fragile, finite, and shared."
- Penn Genthner, theatre director, Developmental Manager, The Flea Theatre
Above the Mountains (part of the Walstone cycle)
"Moving and powerful."
- Lee Eric Shackleford, Ruby Lloyd Apsey Award-winning playwright, Playwright-in-Residence at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
The Summer Bobby(ie) Lee Turner Loved Me
"Mixes the heady idealism of Tennessee Williams with a Sam Shepard-level of stark despair."
- Barrett Hathcock, Birmingham Weekly
"[He]...speaks with a voice of the South that I've never heard before...complex and rich and rife with beauty."
-Eric Young, former Artistic Director of The Next Stage
Cry of the Native Children
"Very compelling."
-Penn Genthner, theatre director, Developmental Manager, The Flea Theatre
"[A] snapshot of history that has integrity to it, unto itself…tightly focused, and excellent forward-motion propulsion. [A] fine natural dramatic sense."
-Gladden Schrock, Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Letters from Alf; first Playwright-in-Residence, Yale School of Drama
"[Y]ou conquered it…a good opening in that prologue and everyone who comes will want to see the end..."
-John Wiswell, author
"Great Work!...It was…refreshing to see the complexities of these imperial relationships, and not just read a play that portrayed formulas...There are many wonderful theatrical moments."
-Eric Young, former Artistic Director of The Next Stage
To Wander in the Dust, or Fire Nights
"Refreshing. Time is at hand in this…country to get beyond the PC girdles strapping contemporary American Drama into a kind of limp, useless, fetid fare."
-Gladden Schrock,Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Letters from Alf; first Playwright-in-Residence, Yale School of Drama
The Brotherhood Cycle
"It has a Horton Foote feel to it."
-Wesley Seals, Artistic Director,Wind Up Productions
A Doll’s House Translation
"[A][ very good translation…The dialogue is as realistic and playable as any other translations I’ve read, and better than most."
-Penn Genthner, theatre director, Developmental Manager, The Flea Theatre