Waving Goodbye by Jamie Pachino

"Jamie Pachino's new work is a beautifully written portrait of loss, rage, change, and the terror -- and joy -- of trusting another person in the wake of personal cataclysm... Pachino writes from the gut and heart in a way that's utterly refreshing...an intriguing work that deserves to be heard."

"It is to Jamie Pachino's immense credit that the artistic struggles depicted in her moving play Waving Goodbye, now at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, register as powerful, tactile metaphors for human connection and creation rather than as esoteric aesthetic debates. In depicting a mother and daughter -- both of them prickly, emotionally blocked artists -- grappling to overcome a rocky, estranged past, Pachino delicately and unhurriedly builds to a powerful release of genuine feeling. She does this without romanticizing either the challenges of making art or maintaining relationships. ...When Pachino pulls out the stops near play's end, we feel it with gale force. We might say of Waving Goodbye what Boggy says of Lily: 'You have weight. You glow.'"

"Pachino shines at creating volatile, memorable characters. ... The language of the play is poetic, which wonderfully elevates the plot and themes. ...Altogether, this is an ambitious and well-executed play and production that Los Angeles audiences should see before it waves goodbye."

"Critic's Pick. Pachino's... voice rings out with an exciting clarity, heralding what will surely be a career to watch closely."

"Pachino's script is both moving and intelligent."

"Pachino's complex and challenging play addresses subtle issues of personal obligation and artistic entitlement."

"In this striking original play about a daughter dealing with her father's death, Chicago writer Jamie Pachino gracefully moved her audience to tears without resorting to cheap tricks or sentimentality. Top 10: the best new play produced at Steppenwolf last year..."

"Highly Recommended: Jamie Pachino's fierce, and fiercely written new play, Waving Goodbye...is unquestionably the work of a playwright who can create fresh, strong, memorable characters, who writes with her heart emblazoned on her sleeve and who has a real feel for the stage. She also knows a thing or two about adult relationships, and about the often irreconcilable needs in the life of any truly driven person, whether an artist or an adventurer."

"Jamie Pachino has fashioned a sensitively crafted exploration of filial tensions further complicated by the duties exacted of artists... This parable of loss and resurrection...emerges as a...significant step in a career well on its ascent."

"Waving Goodbye isn't shy about its heavy ambitions. An aching character study that looms as large as its stunning New York loft setting, this world premiere by playwright Jamie Pachino comes with a pedigree -- a grant from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays (putting it in the important company of Angels in America)...this emotional drama muses over the complex legacies of grief, both debilitating and liberating. An actors' playground...an ambitious script...succeeds admirably...a fertile new work."

"The whole thing is a surprisingly powerful, touching, occasionally poetic exercise in trying to wave goodbye, one of the hardest and most important things we ever learn to do."