West By God Reviews
Washington Post- Recommended
"..."Home is where the heart is," Robert says late in the play. "But it's also where the pain is." In processing his feelings about his home state, McCoy takes some of the sting off the West Virginia stigma. As urban and rural America remain divided, "West By God" represents an admirable step in the direction of empathy."
DC Theater Arts- Recommended
"...The economic and social plight of America's white rural working class has been the subject of recent blockbuster books from J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy to Educated, by Tara Westover. Now this disheartened population has become the focus of DC-area playwright Brandon McCoy, a native of West Virginia, who looks homeward in his new and well-intentioned West By God. Directed by Jeremy Skidmore, this timely work is receiving its world premiere production at The Keegan Theatre."
DCTheatreScene- Recommended
"...Brandon McCoy admits that he has written a love letter to his home state of West Virginia. McCoy has created a work that is both personal and heartachingly relatable to anyone who has pulled up roots and moved away from home. And yet, his home of West Virginia, as he shows in West by God's earnest vision of a rural family, exists as one of the forgotten places of our country, caught in a trap of poverty and unfair societal perceptions."
BroadwayWorld- Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Jeremy Skidmore gets some good performances, from the intense authenticity of Brown, as the mother, to Smith as a laid back brother. Trauner adds some life as the young woman itching to leave; I wish she had better lines to say."