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A review by annamickreads
Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegría Hudes
5.0
It should be extremely obvious to everyone why this play won the Pulitzer Prize. Quiara Alegría Hudes tackles difficult subjects such as addiction, the Iraq War, and Puerto Rican diaspora in such an empathetic, honest way that everything feels raw and real.
I am a clown not to have started with the first play in this trilogy, so I wasn't as familiar with the characters, but they were easily discernible to me. Elliot, an Iraq war vet turned actor, and his cousin Yaz, team up after the death of Yaz's mother Ginny, who raised the both of them. Elliot's biological mother and Yaz's aunt, Odessa, is an addict who runs an online forum for fellow addicts to help one another on a path to sobriety.
The play is told both in person and online in the chatroom, but the set is specifically structured to emphasize the connection in both, whether in person or online — something I think in a post-pandemic world is even more impactful.
Throughout the play, characters find friendship and solace in one another as they attempt to overcome their pasts and reinvent themselves especially during times of extreme change, even if they're just trying to get by little bits at a time. I'm so glad I read this play.
I am a clown not to have started with the first play in this trilogy, so I wasn't as familiar with the characters, but they were easily discernible to me. Elliot, an Iraq war vet turned actor, and his cousin Yaz, team up after the death of Yaz's mother Ginny, who raised the both of them. Elliot's biological mother and Yaz's aunt, Odessa, is an addict who runs an online forum for fellow addicts to help one another on a path to sobriety.
The play is told both in person and online in the chatroom, but the set is specifically structured to emphasize the connection in both, whether in person or online — something I think in a post-pandemic world is even more impactful.
Throughout the play, characters find friendship and solace in one another as they attempt to overcome their pasts and reinvent themselves especially during times of extreme change, even if they're just trying to get by little bits at a time. I'm so glad I read this play.