plays

"What I admired about Somebody's Baby
was the containment of all the tensions
in one place--like vectors coming from
different planets and somehow intersecting
at this one cafe. I know this is what great
playwrights do every day, but I admire it
each time...Wonderful."
Kim Garcia

"In Sky Lines, Barnes makes a complex
and woven picture of the evolving
lives of three women. I am pulled
along by their shifting allegiances
to each other and the times they
live in, by the ways in which they
become a family, by the full range of
emotional experience he captures in
scene...it's chilling..."
Ashley Warlick

"I am impressed with Sky Lines in so
many ways...these three women are caught
in the restrictions and the oppressions
of the past as they watch a very different
future unfold before their eyes...The dialogue
is fresh and lively and believable...some of
the funniest lines I’ve ever read..."
Cathy Smith Bowers

"Sky Lines is an extremely strong, moving
and emotionally satisfying play...the
influence of Tennessee Williams is very
pronounced...very fine writing, brave
writing and dramatically strong writing...
Bravo...it will be a play that audiences
will adore..."
Brighde Mullins

"Pensacola, both touching and humorous,
explores the lives of Southern women
as they discover their strengths and
destinies...think Steel Magnolias by
way of Tennessee Williams, with a detour
through the mind of Elmore Leonard..."
Charlotte Theatre Magazine

"Pensacola depicts the lives of Southerners
in the tradition of Tennessee Williams...
humorous and witty dialogue...the authentic
portrayal of human nature...the poignant
depiction of people reacting to crushed dreams..."
The California Aggie

"At turns comedic and dramatic (but always
impressive), the Southern-flavored dialogue
of Pensacola brought readily to mind the
works of Tennessee Williams...warm-hearted
and heart-warming..."
The Night Cap

"Pensacola is an eclectic collection of Southerners
in the tradition of Tennessee Williams written by
up-and-coming phenom David-Matthew Barnes."
The Independent News

"Languorous, lusty, and laced with gin,
David-Matthew Barnes' play, Sloe Gin Fizz,
charts the inevitable collision course of
two young gay men caught in the muggy heat
of urban America. Barnes' writing does
an excellent job of capturing the mood of
the place and he speaks with an intense and
earnest voice about the various pressures and
pitfalls of living both in an out of the
proverbial closet."
New Bard Press

plays

"In the Tennessee Williams flavored
Threnody, the dialogue sings with
poetic flashes."
The Sacramento News & Review

"David-Matthew Barnes' award-winning plays speak with emotional fervor. His characters refuse to be ignored, driving at the heart of the human condition with their intense desire and longing."
Word Riot Press

"Frozen Stars is an ultra sincere depiction
of young people, passionately performed..."
The Chicago Reader

“Young members of the gay community
will especially appreciate Frozen Stars
for its honest depiction of a relationship
between two young men.”
Outlines

"No, it's not a new reality TV show. It's
the play Better Places To Go...a colorful
cast of characters that would make any
soap opera proud..."
Outword Magazine

“Temporary Heroes is a sweet, simple,
life-affirming love story with charm to
spare... Believably sensitive and filled
with sweetness and youthful optimism...
Delightfully energetic...”
The Sacramento Bee

poetry

"I loved Roadside Attractions. [Barnes has] a
gift for the elegy and the love poem. Not so
easy to leave enough open space in honest lust for the reader to enter while still retaining the tension. These read like Genet without any posturing. It's not just aesthetics and props--the details reveal real people and real feeling."
Kim Garcia

"Bitingly sardonic and rife with pain,
the poems of David-Matthew Barnes use
Hollywood as a symbol for wickedness,
wickedness as a symbol for sex, sex as
a symbol for love, and just about
everything as a symbol for longing.
The anger in his poems is both blatant
and controlled, fused with a wry humor
that reminds us of the humanity of both
the author and his targets."
Unlikely Stories

"His work has the energy of sixty
horses jumping off the top of a
saloon in New Orleans..."
Harold Schneider

"His work reminds me of the 'New York School' poetry -
a good thing, in my opinion..."
David Huntsperger