Since it was first produced, As Bees in Honey Drown has enjoyed almost continuous production in small theatres and on college campuses across the nation from New England to Hawaii and Las Vegas to New Orleans. Most critics believe this play is Beane's best, and audiences tend to agree as they giggle their way through the two acts of this modern comedy.

Jay Reiner, writing for the Hollywood Reporter, finds Beane's play only "mildly amusing," but he knows why the theme of Bean's play works. "A society," Reiner writes, "that makes a fetish of fame and celebrity is made to order for a con man to exploit." The fact that Beane uses a woman as the exploiter amuses Reiner even more. Reiner says of the fact that Beane's con artist is a woman, "so much the better."

Beane's play began in New York City in a...