Run Amok

A teenage girl stages an elaborate musical about the one day her high school wishes it could forget.

In her striking debut feature, writer-director NB Mager boldly wades into the thorny aftermath of a school tragedy with thoughtfulness and a refreshing recentering of the young people most directly affected. Working tonal miracles in her script’s balance of dark humor and heartbreak, Mager brings us front and center into the absurdist reality many students in America know all too well — one where adults’ empty promises, reactivity, and platitudes obscure genuine emotional processing. At the heart of it all is a breakout performance from Alyssa Marvin, who embodies Meg in all her layered complexity and affecting persistence as she looks to heal from the impossible. A tender testament to the power of theater told with unconventional charm, Run Amok presents a singular vision that subverts catharsis and honors the lingering lack of answers. — AS

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