Press quotes from LA and NYC productions of Hearts Like Fists

 Critic’s Pick; “Parody and punches fly in Adam Szymkowicz’s “Hearts Like Fists,” the Flux Theater Ensemble’s comic hybrid at the Secret Theater in Long Island City, Queens. The combination is madcap. Pretty hysterical too… Hurting for a laugh? These Crimefighters should save the day.”  --New York Times

“Hearts Like Fists . . . is a silly, over-the-top, and adventurous comic book-style play that offers a fun, twisted exploration of what it means when someone Hulk-smashes your heart on the ground into a million pieces… Fists argues that the most important moments in life are the ones directly in front of us, and that we shouldn't let being hurt in the past affect our decisions moving forward. It's goofy. It's absurd. But it hits hard where it counts—right in the ticker.” –Village Voice

Critic’s Choice; “A trio of buxom superhero babes is taking names and kicking butt in “Hearts Like Fists,” Adam Szymkowicz’s graphic novel come to irresistible life at Theatre of NOTE… Staged for what is surely less than Christopher Nolan’s weekly tea budget, Hearts Like Fists is the perfect summer date show: exhilarating, nerdy-sexy, and silly-smart. Try finding that on Fandango.”  --LA Times

Pick Of The Week; “Fun well done neatly sums up this brazenly silly and irresistibly funny show… Love unrequited is the recurring motif in this gender-bent spoof; it fuels the dastardly doctor's crime spree; inspires Peter, a dedicated physician with a damaged heart, to design an artificial one; and plagues the peace of mind of all and sundry, even the staunch and sturdy Amazonian crusaders and the hitherto dazzlingly invulnerable Lisa.”  --LA Weekly

“In Hearts Like Fists, Szymkowicz has written a play that is both campy and clever, but also full of heart and hope, another notch on the prolific young playwright’s belt . . . one of this summer’s most exciting thrill ride-like treats.” --Stage Scene LA

“…Szymkowicz is a wistful wit with a broken-romantic’s ear for the big Urban Lonesome.”—NY Magazine

“It's hard to imagine a better night at the theater… Like the best comic books, the story has a bright, action-packed surface with deeper complexities at work beneath. "Hearts Like Fists" delivers an enviable double blow: humorous and profound at once, it demonstrates that the boundaries of what can be done with speculative storytelling onstage are limitless, and always have the capacity to astonish.”  --io9

“… Adam Szymkowicz, one of the leading theatrical voices of his generation, intertwines themes both humorous and mature together… Szymkowicz provides plenty of sugar to make his complicated medicine about crooked hearts go down smoothly. His dialogue comes riddled with memorably arch lines … that aren’t just hysterical, they’re psychologically accurate. He has created a fun show that refuses to be dumbed down.”—NY Press

“Hearts Like Fists is a charming, light-hearted comedy about love, gallantry, and the endless human propensity to fall for the wrong person. Adam Szymkowicz’s script is a comic book hero inspired romp from lights up to lights down. He goes to great lengths to twist and torture the heart — the metaphor of the heart I mean — contorting it between mechanical tool and symbol of the pulse that through the green fuse drives the flower. The result is a gently absurdist send up of the romantic calculus that informs most of the present day mythology of love and dating… An accomplished playwright, Mr. Szymkowicz’s play has no rough edges and no obtuse angles.” –Cultural Capitol

“Although Adam Szymkowicz’s hilarious new play Hearts Like Fists is ostensibly a play about comic book-style Superheros and Supervillains, deep down it’s an utterly charming and goofy romantic comedy. Which is not to say it’s not a hilarious sendup of superhero tropes, because it is that as well. The comedy fires on all cylinders from the beginning and almost never lets up.” –Broadway World

“Playwright Adam Szymkowicz has constructed this story like a sandwich: knife-fulls of surprise and suspense are smeared across meaty gymnastic fight sequences, with all of it packed between the twin slices of our desire for connection and our fear of what that connection might do to us.  It’s a tasty concoction.”—New York Theater Review

“…the play, written by Adam Szymkowicz … is, in all probability, unlike anything most theatergoers have ever seen. Running some 90 intermissionless minutes, it flies by, scarcely leaving time for the actors or the audience to catch their breath. The innovative play, which questions the purposes and passions each individual has in life, has come up with situations and lines that are at once ludicrous and hilarious.”  --Queens Chronicle

“Right now, it feels as if Adam Szymkowicz has cornered the market on shows that feature figuratively and literally broken hearts…”  --That Sounds Cool

“If you have one aorta of desire to know what love is, you will enjoy Flux Theatre Ensemble's production of Hearts Like Fists by Adam Szymkowicz.” –nytheater.com

“Author Adam Szymkowicz has written an extremely funny script that alternates long lyrical monologues with staccato noir-ish one-liners. It's both poignant and hysterical… All in all Hearts Like Fists is fabulous and smart fun.” –Show Showdown

“A chop-socky cartoon on stage, Hearts Like Fists, written by Adam Szymkowicz, is an action-packed adventure romance set in the surreal world of female crime-fighting superheroes. Nurses by day, skilled warriors by night, a band of ferocious and feisty femmes battle the dastardly and elusive Dr. X and his deadly war against romance … Don’t miss this show!”  --Arts Beat LA

“Hearts Like Fists by Adam Szymkowicz is an homage to Film Noir and Marvel Comics and when blended together produces a hilarious theatrical experience! You won't want to miss this truly fun production!” --Hettie Lynn Hurtes of NPR Station KPCC

“Pow! Hearts Like Fists connects. Adam Szymkowicz's crowd-pleaser is a smashingly funny mash-up of action comics and rom-coms.”  --CurtainUp

6 StageSceneLA Scenie Awards including one of the “Best World Premiere Plays of 2012”