Pretty Theft

by Adam Szymkowicz

Drama / Characters: 3m, 4f Pretty Theft is a play about ballerinas, boxes and the dangers of beauty. After losing her father, Allegra falls under the wing of bad girl Suzy, only to find an unexpected friendship with Joe, an autistic savant. When things take a violent turn, Allegra and Suzy escape cross country and befriend Marco, a mysterious thief who claims he cannot be caught. "Disturbing but touching...Mr. Szymkowicz writes quirky plays about contemporary topics like online dating and gend

Genres: Plays, Drama, Coming Of Age

78 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[harlow]

genuinely the worst play that i have ever read in my entire life. but i'm working on a monologue from it for my acting class, so....

[maddie]

i fear i don’t really understand this

[Michela]

I read this for a personal project of mine and can say it is the first book or play that I have read in a while that I genuinely didn’t like. The main purpose for me reading this play was to get the gist of a monologue I was looking at, but after reading the play, I received no background context or helpful information to the play whatsoever. The ideas and themes did not connect, the characters were not fully developed at all, some even coming completely out of no where and I felt confused and did not understand not one thing. It definitely needed more work characterization wise and in terms of fully developing a storyline with a story arc that truly goes from beginning to end in a smooth transition.

[Hannah]

I've read this play twice and use one of the monologues as a go-to for auditions, but I still really struggle with understanding the play. I think it is one that I would need to see to comprehend. I don't really like the direction Szymkowicz took with it though, and I don't know if seeing it would change that.

[Andrea Janov]

This story was a bit predictable but it still sucked me in. I am so intrigued to image how actors and a director would interpret this on stage. I believe that there is a lot that can be pulled from the text that is presented on the page.

[ReadwithBrie]

I had read it for a class.. I really didn’t enjoy it

[Bena Victoria Baricz Hughes]

I’m not going to lie, I’m really confused as to what this play is about. I get the basic plot line but I don’t see the point of the all the psychedelic ballerina scenes.
I’m just confused.

[Kelsey!!!]

What

[cuddlyhannie]

This was… terrible I fear. Two good monologues though!

[M]

4,5 ⭐️

[aashi]

i fear im not intellectual enough to get the deeper meaning idk

[Élie]

4,5 ⭐️

[filming.pages]

Another play I had to read for a class and it was such an enjoyable, if some times confusing, read!

We follow Allegra and Suzy as they navigate their own problems as well as their new found friendship. At the same time, we are introduced to Joe, an autistic guy who loves ballet and Marco, a con man who's looking for his next big "job".

All of these people make a very intriguing array of characters, and the conversations they have are very interesting and some of them are definitely worthy of a double take.

My favourite character would have to be Allegra, I saw quite a lot of myself in her and it's the character I also picked for my performance in class. I found her very complex and interesting, a girl trying to find her own voice in a sea of people deemed, by her, more worthy or more interesting.

Overall, it's a play I would really love to see a production of, Szymkowicz seemed very set on the way he would like for it to be directed and I believe it would be a very intriguing and peculiar performance!

[Lucy Jennifer Williams]

mamaaaa so much going on

[Valerie Estrada]

weird