“Spellbinding… Goldfinger’s voice is distinctly, wonderfully her own.” – Philadelphia Magazine
“Haunting, and atmospheric, Jacqueline Goldfinger’s compelling new play… is not your usual family piece… nor is it anything like a conventional ghost story.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Jacqueline Goldfinger’s spellbinding new play… put me in mind of a kind of gender-reversed Sam Shepard… There is a sense here that the playwright honors a history of theater (the Greeks, Shepard, also Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra), but it’s also contemporary. Best of all, Goldfinger’s voice is distinctly, wonderfully her own.” – Philadelphia Magazine
“Spellbinding… Hypnotic… Exquisitely written… The opening scene… would be equally at home in a Cormac McCarthy novel or a hardboiled HBO series. And I mean that as a serious compliment… it explores the fine lines separating parent and child, life and death, earthliness and eternity, letting go and moving on, profanity and poetry, the grotesque and the sublime.” – Juneau Empire
“Haunting and primal… The Arsonists is an impactful, spine-chilling meditation on the age-old themes of life and death, the power that nature holds over humanity, and the ties that bind father to daughter.” – DC Metro Arts
“A heartbreaking modern myth… Arsonist shoulders enormous emotional weight. That’s a testament to Goldfinger’s carefully balanced array of music and metaphor, as well as the raw emotional expression of the actors… Arsonist burns as fiercely as the name suggests, making it well worth attending. Fair warning, though: if, like me, you’re the father of a daughter, you will need to hug her after this play, even if that means waking her up a bit too far past her bedtime.” – ArtWave
“Elegant, evocative two-hander… a terrifically atmospheric play, filled with silences and even occasional song, some traditional hymns, some written specifically for this production… Arsonist is a wonderful play (I’ve already ordered the script to become part of my ‘permanent collection’) being given a wonderful production.” – Theatre Buzz (Atlanta, GA)
“For those who are seeking the bold and the unusual… a play like Arsonist is a rare find.” – Connecticut Post-Chronicle
“Packs a strong punch… the play is edgy and thought-provoking… This is not a play for the faint of heart.” – Broadway World (Philadelphia, PA)
“This is not a ‘wordy’ play, but each bit of dialogue is pure gold.” – Davis Enterprise
“A hypnotic, surprising journey… radiant, lyrical language… an amazing concentration of potent imagery, in a way that keeps your brain humming. In addition to the compelling father-daughter theme, there’s a ghost story, ending with a glimmer of redemption. But Arsonist is not at all like Jacob Marley addressing Scrooge from beyond the grave. This is a haunting of a very different sort.” – Capital Public Radio
“More than anything, this is a story of relationships – of saying what you always wanted to say, or what you had never felt able to say. Of loving and letting go… For how a difficult relationship can burn up the people within it just as explosively as fire. For the power of love to destroy yet also to cleanse and transform.” – TheatreReview (New Zealand)
“A searing family drama… A remarkable work with roots that stretch back to Greek drama but is as contemporary as today… The more I think about this play, the more I appreciate it and want to see it again.” – Sacramento Press
“Arsonist: A Love Poem… A Must See… It captures the largeness of life, of feeling, and how even after death you continue to sing the story of your ancestors, sometimes turning the daily pains into joy.” – League of Cincinnati Theatres
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