"I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am to have been invited to share such a wonderful experience.
As an Egyptian and Arab artist, all my work has invested in political performances that stir the audience to think and to be angry and to be active. When I moved to New York after multiple threats and attacks, I missed seeing the vehement performative potential of making my radical works! Until I saw the work you support and stand for! THANK YOU!"
-Adham Hafez
"The whole performance is put on with a flare without being heavy-handed. The performances were excellent. It all serves to remind me that they do not have the funding they should have."
-Joseph Conway, OUTERSTAGES
"I'm so glad I saw this, really powerfully storytelling and it created a space for honest discussion. Was bloody funny at times too! Thought it was a very dynamic programme. The humour in both the play and Dawn's spoken word really helped the audience to feel engaged with the important issues in the stories that were being told, without feeling preached to."
-Sherillina T.
"Its bare-bones production was as potent as the one Arthur Miller’s A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE is getting... It has been years since this has been mounted on Broadway. Producers re-write that wrong."
-Peter Filishia, FILISHIA ON FRIDAY
"I had a great time. Lovely meeting you all. Thanks to Ripple Effect for a fun and informative evening. Keep up the good work!"
-Z. Joe Guice
"Ripple Effect is definitely a company to keep watching."
-Sander Gusinow, DRAMAQUEENS
"I was so moved by the entire evening that Ripple Effect Artists provided. From the intimate cabaret style theater to the actors and playwright who acutely understood that racism is about fear, to Dawn Speaks who masterfully added her writing and performance highlighting her life within racism, and finally to the talk-back organization who is guiding people through their unfortunate learned prejudices to a peaceful acceptance of all. We learned, laughed, cried, explored the possible. Bravo Bravo. I am looking forward to going again."
-Cindy Fahay
"Loved the play and the evening!"
-Eileen Etzi
"Beautifully and sensitively acted and directed, the short theatre piece, 'Guarding the Bridge' takes us to a time and place in the not so distant past where the conflicts and attitudes of a generation too close to be pooh-poohed or ignored are held up like a mirror to our faces. We see the origin of the fears and bigoted attitudes that have plagued our recent history. We see a mind-set, flawed but justified, passed from one generation to another, born of ignorance and perpetuated by the fear of losing self-hood in acceptance of 'the other'. A father tries to justify and pass down his fears and attitudes which we would call racism as his son tries to resist and shine a light on the misconceptions of the past.
The brilliant actors bring to life the humanity of both characters as we pity rather than hate the father and cheer on the son in hope he can seize and hold onto the reflected lessons he is learning as he reels in horror from his acknowledgement of how our minds are molded by those who raise us and only hope he will not perpetuate this for another generation.
Kudos to Ripple for bringing us this beautifully written and insightful play."
-Adham Hafez