Reviews - Paulus

Phil Potempa, The Times of Northwest Indiana:

Silk Road Rising masterfully presents PAULUS by Motti Lerner, while seizing the hearts, minds and souls of the audience by way of a talented cast under the direction of Jimmy McDermott. Much of the spiritual and soul-searching tug-of-war is between a 62-year-old Jesus, played delicately by Torrey Hanson and the ego-maniacal, instrument strumming Emperor Nero, as portrayed with superb sense-of-self, by the talented Glenn Stanton. In the title role, Daniel Cantor crosses all boundaries with believable passion and conviction as Paulus, faithfully tended to by servant Trophimos, with the wonderful wit, craft and timing of actor Anthony DiNocola. Add to all of this the stunning and striking performances by actresses Dana Black as Princess Drusilla and Carolyn Hoerdemann as Adima, both strong female characters devoted to the title character, and scene after scene serves up the audience a new confrontation and exploration of the conflicting collision of the Christian and Jewish faiths during this time. Actor Bill McCough completes the stage equation as the calculating high priest Hananiah who is eager to expose and dispose of Paulus. Dan Stratton offers a stark yet inventive and functional set design, nicely coupled with the costumes of Elsa Hiltner, Rebecca A. Barrett's lighting and Jesse Gaffney dreaming up some amazing props (an infant and a lamb, both recently succumbed, are especially impressive). The other quality that transports the audience for this theater experience is the sound design and original score by Peter J. Storms, who blends traditional western instruments like organ, dulcimer and zither with world intruments like rebab, Native American flute, Chinese percussion and kalimba.

Bonnie McGrath, Blogger for ChicagoNow

If you've ever wondered what life was like in Judea/Rome after the Resurrection, during the time of Paul's apostolic journey, you MUST see Silk Road Rising's "Paulus" ASAP! Written by an Israeli Jewish atheist, Motti Lerner--and produced by our own Malik Gillani and Jamil Khoury--it's just fabulous!!! "...Jesus and Paul, two radical Jewish visionaries...." is how the program notes describe the two main characters. Then there's an interesting Nero; and a Jewish high priest who gives you a lot to think about; not to mention two startlingly outspoken women of the first century who also have a lot to say! You won't believe how creative and interesting this play is. You have about a month...but it's a busy month coming up, so be sure to make time!!!

Alan Busch, Examiner.com

The close proximity of the audience does not afford the Paulus cast any portion of the anonymity that I think casts in larger theaters enjoy. Put another way, it was mighty cozy in there almost as if the audience had been empowered to steer the course of events to its own liking. In what was the most gripping of scenes, I could see the spray of spittle jettisoned from the lips of lead actor Daniel Cantor in his portrayal of disciple Paul of Tarsus pleading his cause before the arrogant and boorishly self-indulgent Roman procurator whose hangmen tightened their remarkably authentic-looking nooses around Paulus's neck and that of his loyal servant whose passionate defense of his master was exceeded only by his verbosity of which I too have been accused. 5 Stars! *****

Al Bresloff, Around the Town Chicago

Silk Road Rising is one of my favorite troupes. Written by a Jewish Atheist, we look at the Messiah and what he might have been had his life gone longer than that which is written and taught. Both of our “heroes”, Jesus and Paul are of the Jewish faith, each hoping to save their people from what might happen to them and to somehow unite their people to believe in the same teachings. Was Paul attempting to complete Judaism, making it the perfect religion? Or was he seeking a way to unveil a new religion that altered what was in the original 613 Commandments? Daniel Cantor was a powerhouse as Paulus. Nero was deftly handled by Glenn Stanton and the two ladies, Dana Black and Carolyn Hoerdemann were as stunning as they were believable. The original music (Peter J. Storms) is unique.

Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

Part Biblical pageant, part theological argument play, “Paulus,” which is receiving a richly atmospheric production, looks back to the period when, after the crucifixion of Jesus, the title character (born Saul), split from traditional Jewish doctrine, converted to Christianity and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah.  In a nutshell at the core of Paulus’ dramatic shift is a rejection of the notion that believers should strictly abide by the 613 commandments of Jewish law. Instead, he wanted to spread the gospel and welcome gentiles into the fold, creating a more open and immediately rewarding sense of salvation. Artfully directed by Jimmy McDermott (on a fine set by Dan Stratton), the cast is strongly led by Daniel Cantor as the brutally abused Paulus, with Anthony DiNicola as his sweet, Sancho Panza-like attendant; Torrey Hanson as an aged “ghost” of Jesus; and Bill McGough, Dana Black, Carolyn Hoerdemann, Glenn Stanton and D’Wayne Taylor in supporting roles.

Tom Williams, ChicagoCritic.com

Trying to write and stage a religious play, especially one written by a Jew about a key figure in early Christianity, is a tough task to pull off. PAULUS may stretch credulity and be a tad too much for many to handle yet it is daring, provocative and enticing work. It will bore some, offend others, and yet I found it theatrically appealing in a strange way. It sure challenges us to think, analyze, and consider the nature and essence of our beliefs. The cast works hard to humanize this religious story that finds Daniel Cantor playing Paulus as a uncompromising zealot while Bill McGough has Hananiah as his chief foe. D’Wayne Taylor, as Lysias, is pure emotions while Dana Black gives Drusilla a splendid unanimity. Glenn Stanton is terrific as the singing Nero. Anthony DiNicola is empathic as Trophimos, Paulus’ loyal servant.

Lauren Whalen, Chicago Theatre Beat

The stories of Jesus, his disciples and the trouble they caused have great potential for artistic interpretation. Silk Road Rising has invested a great deal of time and energy in PAULUS, one such story chronicling the Apostle Paul and his uphill battle to universalize monotheism. The passionate theater company worked with Israeli playwright Motti Lerner, commissioned Hillel Halkin’s translation and hosted readings and workshops surrounding the play this past year. Some aspects of PAULUS, such as its production values and cast, are incredibly successful. Rebecca A. Barrett’s lighting is gloriously moody, a perfect match for Peter J. Storms’ original score, an innovative blend of traditional Jewish and Christian musical forms and American shapenote singing. Dan Stratton’s set and Jesse Gaffney’s props incorporate PVC pipe in incredible ways, and Paulus’ bright red garb speaks well to costume designer Hiltner. Additionally, PAULUS boasts an excellent cast ably led by director Jimmy McDermott. Dana Black’s rich speaking voice is a pleasure to listen to, and D’Wayne Taylor handles intensity well as an alcoholic leader. Torrey Hanson is appropriately guarded as the reimagined Jesus, and Daniel Cantor’s Paulus is never anything less than genuine and dedicated. As Greek servant Trophimus, Anthony DiNicola provides comic relief and real angst without going over-the-top. Glenn Stanton is the play’s standout, shining in a double role: as Paulus’ devoted nephew Eleazar, he fumbles and tries to protect an uncle who’s already long gone. And in the role of Nero, he’s terrifying, seductive and utterly captivating. PAULUS is worth seeing.

John Olson, Talkin’ Broadway

Imagine this—among the holiday/Christmas themed shows this season is a play about Christianity! But this world premiere production of PAULUS, written in Hebrew by Motti Lerner and translated by Hillel Halkin, is no Christmas pageant. Rather, it's an intellectual consideration of the origins of Christianity as it was promulgated by the Apostle Paul in the years after Christ's crucifixion. Lerner, a self-described atheist Jew, depicts occasions late in the life of Paul (called in the play by his Latin name, Paulus) after Paul had spread the Christian gospel to Gentiles around the northeastern Mediterranean region. Most of these events concern Paul's confrontations with authority figures among the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman governors, and Lerner shows how politics, power and religion were closely intertwined. There are also frequent conversations with a 62-year-old Christ, in which the two debate the wisdom and morality of Paul's teachings. As scripture says that Christ first appeared to Paul in a vision, there's certain logic in Lerner's conceit that Christ may have continued to visit Paul after the crucifixion. Lerner shows Paul to be steadfast in his belief of a single, universal God—even as he debates Jesus, who preached his gospel mainly to the Jews. Lerner asks if the tribalism and sectarianism associated with some religious thinking is a barrier to achieving a better, more harmonious world. It's a thought-provoking theme set in a historical context that is likely new to many in the audience, as it was to me. It's all a very classy and thoughtful production that may offer its audiences a deeper understanding of religion in world history and spark some critical thinking about organized religion in today's society and politics. Audiences interested in including something like that in their holiday menu ought to pay it a visit.

Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune

Call it "The Last Temptation of Paul." Lerner traces the last days of the title apostle, many years after that famous road-to-Damascus conversion, in a fantasia that combines loose historical context with intense religious debate, often provided by imaginary visitations to Paulus from Jesus and a ukulele-playing Roman emperor Nero. The philosophical context of Lerner's show is fascinating. There is no doubt that these characters believe deeply in the positions they have staked out. The play provides an interesting road map through Paulus' beliefs and his clashes with the Jewish and Roman authorities as they try to retain order among the restive populace (Jewish zealots and gentiles alike). Paulus' sin, as laid out by the Jewish high priest Hananiah (Bill McGough), is that he preaches to gentiles and suggests that they can achieve salvation without devotion to all the holy laws that Jews must follow. Hananiah sees this as a threat to Jewish identity. "If faith alone can save us, why must the Jews bother with their commandments?" It's Nero, who Glenn Stanton plays with oily charm and sardonic dyspepsia, who ends up making quite a bit of sense, especially when he croons, "It's no easy job to be God, when humans display such rigidity. Offer them beauty and wit; they'd rather have ugly stupidity." Thousands of years of sectarian violence suggest that he's not wrong.

Dani Snyder-Young, HowlRound

Paulus’s core message of inclusivity—that ethnic origins shouldn’t matter—resonates in a contemporary American context valuing multiculturalism. Of course salvation should not be exclusively reserved for just one ethnic group. Of course everyone should be able to participate in a (now-mainstream) monotheistic belief structure, regardless of ethnic origins. Of course Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and Jews should be treated as equal.

Reviews - Invasion!

Reviews

Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune

[Invasion!] blends the classic nesting-stories structure of "The Arabian Nights" with contemporary riffs on the psychic damages incurred through racial and ethnic profiling...a clever and sometimes-wrenching kaleidoscopic journey through the looking-glass of prejudice, fear and internalized self-loathing that ends with an indelible and horrifying erasure of identity. There is a whiff of "Alice in Wonderland" in Khemiri's world, too. Humpty-Dumpty's assertion that "When I choose a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less" gets a workout through repeated invocations and iterations of the name "Abulkasem," which takes on numerous shades of meaning. Abulkasem is whoever and whatever the characters choose it to mean — or choose to see in those who bear the name. [Invasion! is] a sly condemnation of monolingual culture and how easy it is to believe the worst of those who do not speak one's own native tongue...a multilayered assault on the inherent unworkability — not to mention immorality — of racial profiling.

Catey Sulivan, Chicago Theatre Beat

A blistering commentary on the dangerous power of stereotypes. Jonas Hussan Khemiri‘s Invasion! is a challenging kaleidoscope of a play, a whirling, non-linear mash-up of chameleonic characters, charged situations and provocative ideas. There’s a thru-line in this demanding piece, but it’s not always obvious as Khemiri’s torrent of heightened poetry and charged dialogue comes rushing at you. Directed by Anna C. Bahow and translated from the original Swedish by Madison linguist Rachel Willson-Broyles, Invasion! can be intensely challenging as it hopscotches through time, place and among characters to form a sort of verbal puzzle. In the end though, the big picture that gradually emerges from at times seemingly disconnected situations is vivid and essential. What Khemiri has crafted with Invasion! is a blistering commentary on the dangerous power of stereotypes and ignorance as well as a pointed declaration of the supercharged power of language to become a force of good or destruction. Throughout the piece, Khemiri toys with the audience’s perception of what is true and what is perception. Events unfold in a manner that seems clear, only to be upended when they’re presented from a different perspective. The effect is emotional whiplash – both devastating and comic. Invasion! is not an easy play. Indeed, it can seem maddeningly opaque. But it is well worth the frustration, and the ideas it presents will stay with you long after the lights come up.

Scott Morgan, Windy City Times

Silk Road Rising poster artist Andrew Skwish certainly created an apt illustration for the full-scale Chicago premiere of Jonas Hassen Khemiri's Obie Award-winning play Invasion! It's a Rubik's Cube featuring styled images of people who could be Arab, South Asian, Persian and more. Skwish's multi-peopled image also matches the writing style of Khemiri who offers up plenty of uncomfortable situations in Invasion! The stylistic diversity and ideas in Invasion! certainly prod a lot of thinking. It's like Khemiri is throwing all sorts of ideas and viewpoints things out there and is just leaving it up to audiences to decide what sticks or rings true. This makes Invasion! come off as a short-attention span jumble that is deliberately dizzying and will make you work to form the play coherent in your head. Silk Road Rising certainly deserves praise for tackling such a challenging work and performing it so well. Just be sure to leave your expectations for something linear at the door.

Francis Sadac, From the Ledge

A play like Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s Invasion!, currently receiving a blistering Chicago premiere at Silk Road Rising, which focuses on how people use words to differentiate, segregate, define and re-define Arabs as the other is vital and critical. It is a provocative play that will make some people squirm in their seats, as they should!, but it is essential viewing. Khemiri, son of a Tunisian father and a Swedish mother and raised multi-racial in heterogeneously white Scandinavia, has very potent, cuts-close-to-the-bone things to say. Khemiri writes some pretty damn powerful scenes. It is powerful, breathtaking stuff. Khemiri blazingly drives home the point that it is our words, words we have control of, that we use to define and disenfranchise. [Invasion!] hooks us in, leading us to stare, riveted, at the ferocious, unsettling world Khemiri’s words have created.

Matt Miles, Fresh Roasted Films

Silk Road Rising’s production of Invasion! is a luridly poignant piece that is not only alarming and grappling, but the talent behind the work (both on stage and off) is engaging and deserves an audience. Unconventional in nature, Invasion! pushes the boundaries of discussion in a way that will engage audiences with unexpected turns. Director Anna Bahow has taken Rachel Willson-Broyles’ admirable translations (Swedish to English) of playful drama and transforms them into a disruptive staging that is curiously memorable. There are several moments that will simply surprise the viewer and keep everyone engaged because Bahow’s movement and flow have a wonderful proficiency about them. Set (Dan Stratton) & Lighting (Sarah Hughey) designs drop audiences in a colorful mosque setting that whispers the ever-present topical nature of Invasion!, while also adding some interactive set pieces to keep both the actors inventive in character blocking & audiences engaged in action and thought. Peter Storm’s smartly-tabbed sound design lands sequences, character & text influences for a underscoring reminiscent to that of a cinematic experience within the Silk Road’s intimate playing space. The spirited cast - Kamal Harris, Amira Sabbagh, Glenn Stanton, and Omer Abbas Salem - all take on their personal tracks with vigor and talented storytelling. As each Actor assumes their various caricatures within the ensemble structure of Invasion!, they bring endearing and heartfelt connections to each role and show they are smart in their depictions.

Ruth Smerling, Theatre World Internet Magazine

Jonas Hassen Khemini’s Invasion! is a humorous but brutally in-your-face candid discourse on Arab identity in the world. Invasion! raucously cushions it’s slings and arrows spoofing American TV, borrowing format and content from shows like Friends and Saturday Night Live. The four person ensemble of Kamal Hans, Amira Sabbagh, Glenn Stanton and Omer Abbas Salem are merciless as they poke fun at the images of typical Arabs in America by sharing the concept of Abulkasem, the icon of bad behavior, a terrorist who put fear in the hearts of everyone around him. For everyone who has a hard time communicating, a fear of foreigners, or just needs a good laugh, Invasion! delivers from a depth of perspective rarely explored in the United States. Invasion!, with its stunning cast of original artists, is a must see.

Zach Freeman, Newcity

An ever-shifting piece of all-engaging theater, [Invasion!] asks its audience to stay on their toes and take nothing for granted. Loosely tied together by one ephemeral word (“Abulkasem”), Khemiri’s script seeks to examine how a simple word can effortlessly manifest itself into any number of meanings merely by passing through the filter of various psyches. During the course of this eighty-minute ensemble production, Abulkasem goes from a name in a stilted period drama to an adjective used by high-school students to describe almost anything (good or bad) to the name of a shadowy figure authorities are constantly hunting. “Maybe Abulkasem is me,” one ensemble member says at one point, before turning the concept onto the audience, “Maybe Abulkasem is you.” In the same way that Invasion! can be uniquely understood by each audience member based on their own experiences, Abulkasem is up for interpretation. Try as you might, you can’t nail Abulkasem down and the dialogue snaps and scenes change to keep you from nailing the show down either. It’s a suggestive concept and set designer Don Stratton’s multipurpose set pieces work well in this environment, moving, turning and even splitting apart to maintain the transitory feeling the show invokes. [In Invasion!] the nature of psychological filters and what we choose to believe becomes readily apparent.

Katy Walsh, The Fourth Walsh

Within the first ten minutes, this show establishes itself as unconventional… startlingly so. Playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri used multiple mediums to convey discrimination against Arab men. Although the subject matter is serious, the tone isn't always. Director Anna Bahow introduces the variety show-like segments with tight pacing. Her staging of the unconventional introduction is unforgettably impressive. The talented and animated cast, Kamal Harris, Amira Sabbagh, Glenn Stanton, and Omer Abbas Salem, evolve effectively into multiple roles. Within Khemiri’s ambitious spectrum, the cast embrace a variety of distinct personas. If I had to sum up this play in one word, I’d say ‘Abulkasem.’

Tom Williams, Chicago Critic

Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s Invasion! (translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles) is a mixture of theatre. performance art, part agit-prop, and part polemic. Khemiri uses wordplay about the term Abulkasem. The clever wordplay here demonstrates how the semantics of Middle Eastern -Muslim types can lead us Westerners , particularly Americans, to fear them. The action here is torrid and, at times, a tad confusing but ultimately Invasion! delivers a theatrical treat. The piece proves to be provocative, daring and insightful. This show is worthy of an audience.

Larry Bommer, Stage and Cinema

Supple, swift and slippery, this 80-minute, four-character satire skewers Islamophobia and its many mutations. Its trick is to center our self-terrorism on an exotic name borrowed from an old play. Meaning everything and nothing, the fake persona “Abulkasem” takes on as many protean forms as Woody Allen’s elusive but ubiquitous Zelig. As malleable as the material, Anna Bahow’s subversive staging for Silk Road Rising keeps it surreal—and toxically familiar. The cast—Kamal Hans, Amira Sabbagh, Glenn Stanton, and Omer Abbas Salem—inhabit their careful caricatures with heart, charm and zest.

Kris Vire, TimeOut Chicago

The refractory Invasion! is a meditation on the powers of language and skin color...Khemiri also plays with the idea of an Arab-sounding name—Abulkasem—taking on a life of its own as it's transmuted from one speaker to another like a game of Telephone, eventually becoming the moniker of a terrorist who may or may not really exist.

Amy Munice, Splash Magazines

Obie-award winning Invasion! is a powerful and timely exposé of ethnic and racial profiling, and of that well-worn path of shortcuts in thinking that fall under the rubric of stereotype. For those of us who seek out small Chicago theater to spark thoughts in new directions, Silk Road Rising’s Invasion! delivers this with perfect comic timing and a flawless performance. We laugh frequently and hard such that the underlying tragedy in this story accumulates below our in-the-moment radar…[The name] “Abulkasem” serves as a poetic ribbon that aptly ties it all together. In the most able hands of playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri, translator Rachel Willson-Broyles and director Anna Bahow, you will dwell in this zone for 80 uninterrupted minutes where farce meets tragedy in the deconstruction, sometimes quite literal, of the West’s stereotype of the Arab man. Playwright Kemiri does make searing political commentary but with a fast-paced alteration between tragic and comic moments that above all keeps you engaged. No small part of Invasion!’s ability to engage comes from its stellar cast –understudy Omer Abbas Salem, Kamal Hans, Glenn Stanton, and Amira Sabbagh. These four actors play numerous roles and handle quick conversions from one persona to another seamlessly. Go see Invasion! with your most thoughtful friends who will help you savor deconstructing the deconstruction.

Silk Road Rising’s Artistic Ambassador David Henry Hwang called Invasion! “one of the most effective coups de théâtre I’ve ever seen.”

"A slyly entertaining comedy with a sharp political edge...expresses confusion with remarkable clarity." - The New York Times

"If you’ve ever wished somebody would write a razor-sharp play anatomizing lazy paranoia about the Middle East―somebody has." - The Village Voice

“One of the best social commentaries in dramatic form of the past few years." - CurtainUp

"Playfulness and seriousness intermingle to disturbing - and awfully satisfying - effect." - Theater Mania

Praise for Jonas Hassen Khemiri and Invasion!

"A slyly entertaining comedy with a sharp political edge...expresses confusion with remarkable clarity." - The New York Times 

"If you’ve ever wished somebody would write a razor-sharp play anatomizing lazy paranoia about the Middle East―somebody has." - The Village Voice 

“One of the best social commentaries in dramatic form of the past few years." - CurtainUp 

"Playfulness and seriousness intermingle to disturbing - and awfully satisfying - effect." - Theater Mania

Reviews - The Lake Effect

Kerstin Broockmann
Chicago Stage Standard

Rating: 4 Stars out of 4

Rajiv Joseph’s dialogue is believable yet easily poetic as he explores the difficulties of finding one’s place in the world through the eyes of characters to which the audience can relate. The Lake Effect, receiving its world premiere in a smart, entertaining and powerful staging by Timothy Douglas, is ultimately a funny and moving examination of families, culture and the American Dream. Douglas propels the action at a fast pace, but allows the characters and the audience to experience the full weight of the revelations the characters share. Mark Smith as Bernard is the conscience and emotional driver of the play; he finds all the nuances in several poetic monologues that encapsulate the play’s themes. Adam Poss creates a character that we think we want to get to know, using humor and angry sarcasm to shield himself against the emotions that threaten to surface. Minita Gandhi brings unpredictable energy to the role of Priya, capturing her fragility as well as her emotional and material neediness. Each of the actors capture their own character’s need for belonging and navigate the various strategies they employ to find a home, rather than a place to live.

Michael Roberts
Showbiz Chicago

Rating: Highly Recommended

Within the past two weeks, more than half of the productions that have opened involve the reconciliation process with a patriarch. But none are on the level of Rajiv Joseph’s gripping The Lake Effect which is receiving its World Premiere at Silk Road Rising. Under Timothy Douglas’ thoughtful and precise direction, this dramady weaves the story of a brother and sister trying to figure out the truth of their recently deceased father which comes together like a Rubik’s cube. The Lake Effect cements Mr. Joseph as one of our most formidable new playwrights. Mr. Joseph weaves a narrative like no other with an overall morality check on the entire human condition. The story moves forward to an emotional climax that will leave you in tears. Mr. Douglas has brought together a sensational cast who work impeccably together as a unit.The production values are flawless, including a realistic diner set by Dan Stratton which is masterfully lit by Sarah Hughey along with Rick Sims sound design which will make you believe you are in the middle of a lake effect wind storm. The Lake Effect ends up being about how we are all longing a mother’s affection. Simply brilliant.

Alan Bresloff
Around the Town Chicago

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5

The Lake Effect is written by a young, brilliant writer, Rajiv Joseph. During this solid 90 minutes of story-telling, we learn a great deal about the relationship between brother and sister since the death of their mother. There are some twists and turns in this plot, which I will not relate to you as I would not want to break the excellent flow of the action as directed skillfully by Timothy Douglas. Dan Stratton’s restaurant set is one that truly represents a run down area restaurant, one in a changing neighborhood that barely looks appetizing. The lighting ( Sarah Hughey) is perfect and Rick Sims’ sound and the props (Jesse Gaffney) are the final touches to making this show as beautiful as it is. Of course, the key ingredient for making a story easy to follow is a solid script and good direction along with actors who truly understand the characters they are bringing off the page into reality ( at least for 90 minutes). This show has all that!

Tom Williams
ChicagoCritic.com

Rating: Highly Recommended

A unique twist on family relationship makes The Lake Effect an engaging experience. Playwright Pajiv Joseph received a commission from Silk Road to write The Lake Effect. That was money well spent since Joseph’s play is most stage worthy and engrossing. Without giving away too much, let me say that the plotting is plausible and unique. It challenges out perceptions of race, ethnicity, gender and the nature and definition of success. This play will grab you and keep you interested throughout as we are surprised by who emerges as the hero and who becomes the villain. All three actors gave fines performances. The Lake Effect gives us insights into Indian American melting pot culture that finds old country values in conflict with the children’s American values. I enjoyed this refreshingly take on the effects of one’s life on their significant others. This world premier is a “must see” event.

Katy Walsh
Chicago Now

Rating: Highly Recommended

This guy walks into a restaurant. The guy behind the counter says, ‘we’re closed.‘ The first guy, a gregarious man, continues to prattle as he takes a seat and pulls out his paper. The counter guy gets increasingly angry. The customer guy is unfazed. The customer is African American. The counter guy is Indian American. The set-up is immediately curious just based on ethnic. Then, it becomes compelling based on entitlement. Each of these guys believes he has a stronger right to be in the restaurant. Under the skillful direction of Timothy Douglas, the clash between Mark Smith (Bernard) and Adam Poss (Vijay) is authentic. As Smith and Poss deconstruct their relationship with the owner, Douglas keeps the conversation naturally flowing. Playwright Rajiv Joseph wrote a thought-provoking tale of ties that bind. Joseph illustrates how truth affects the characters. The flawed characters are believable and the dialogue is genuine and clever. He even uses lake effect snow as a powerful image to the overall story. Heart-warming. The Lake Effect has surprising depth in meaning while skimming the surface of this trio’s lives. I didn’t want the story to end. I wanted to see what happened in the next scene. The Lake Effect not only captivated my interest, it made me want to call my dad.

Tony Frankel
Stage and Cinema

Rating: Recommended

The Lake Effect contains some of Mr. Joseph’s now-trademark aggressive and furtive use of language in a compelling scenario. Add to that Silk Road Rising’s terrific production values, and this world premiere becomes a recommended affair. Although the father dies early on,The Lake Effect is less about the substantial issue of death, and more about the ties that bind. Mr. Joseph effectively stays on track with his theme: that past events forever shape one’s destiny. Admirably, Joseph also steers away from making his work an issue-based play. And even though there is a black character, a man who had been befriended by the now-deceased father, I don’t see this as a play about race: The themes of loss, love and connection are universal. Director Timothy Douglas wisely keeps the pace clipped and edgy. It is no small feat to have a world premiere be as effective as this – you may even be inspired to make that long-avoided call to your folks.

Chris Jones
Chicago Tribune

Rating: Recommended

Joseph's rich storytelling abilities — under the direction of Timothy Douglas — are enough to pull you into the story. This play is exploring one of the more emotional of the traumas and questions that often surround parents with estranged (or merely absent) kids. Who has their best interests at heart? Joseph, though, has other fish to fry in his Cleveland curry house. Not the least of those issues is the struggle of the well-educated children of immigrants, who might reject the careful, small-business ways of their parents, and surely do not share their accents, but who inevitably remain tied to their family in ways they struggle to fully process. You're never ahead of this prismatic play, which reminds me in places of Tracy Letts' "Superior Donuts," but nonetheless manages to be very distinctive. It's especially admirable in its sense of balance — Joseph is no mere sentimentalist taking down ungrateful yuppies who don't respect their roots (although he lands a few punches), he's also chronicling some of the more paranoid and understandably closed-off tendencies of that first generation of immigrants. These are all deeply vulnerable characters, and the issues in play are not only complex in their exploration of race, class and education, they're also intensely personal.

Johnny Oleksinski
Newcity

Rating: Highly Recommended

Unlike Tennessee Williams’ plays of heat, Rajiv Joseph’s The Lake Effect, is a play of ice. The plot is still, like an O’Neill or a Miller, dependent on scorching revelations, providing as much comedic relief here as shock. However, the secrets in this play expose grander truths about society—our relationship to race and money—rather than just a sequestered time and place. Two siblings, Vijay (Adam Poss) and Priya (Minita Gandhi), do not return to an estate with a life of its very own; they reunite at a restaurant, a business. The restaurant, which though Indian, eradicates from this story any homestyle nostalgia, and consequently commerce becomes the crux of their brotherly-sisterly assaults. The ninety-minute play consists of only three long scenes and a monologue, but Timothy Douglas’ direction intensifies each moment to a point of crackling satisfaction.

Scott C. Morgan
Windy City Times

Rating: Highly Recommended

There's nothing like a good mystery to pull in an audience, and Rajiv Joseph definitely delivers one that exposes loads of family secrets in his new one-act drama The Lake Effect. Along with Joseph's great dialogue (including a very poetical visual allusion tying the play's title with guiding spirits from the hereafter), The Lake Effect succeeds thanks to strong performances under the assured guidance of director Timothy Douglas. The production is also aided by set designer Dan Stratton's run-down restaurant set. Although The Lake Effect is full of rancor and bad family blood, there is a glimmer of hope at the end that some healing and forgiveness will take place among the play's three emotionally hurt characters. And that provides a satisfying coda to Joseph's entrancing family mystery play that skillfully grips the audience's attention and curiosity.

Catey Sullivan
Chicago Theater Beat

Rating: Highly Recommended

With three, wonderfully layered characters, Joseph creates a puzzle of interlocking pieces that eventually forms a most unexpected and emotionally fraught family portrait. Joseph’s dialogue richly captures the fractious relationship between siblings while deftly filling in the blanks surrounding the cause of the family dysfunction. Under Douglas’ subtly effective direction, the three actors succeed in creating a richly realistic family dynamic as troubled as it is vivid. This is a piece that evokes compassion, laughter and shock as it explores a family defined as much by its substantial rifts as by its bloodlines.

Praise for Rajiv:  

"Rajiv Joseph is an artist of original talent."
—New York Times  

“Joseph has an imaginative voice and uses it to express innovative ideas and the redemptive power of art and beauty.”
—Backstage

The Lake Effect is Jeff Recommended!

Reviews - Night Over Erzinga

Kerry Reid
Chicago Tribune

If you saw Silk Road Rising's magnificent production of Wajdi Mouawad's "Scorched" a couple of years ago, you might uncover some similarities with Adriana Sevahn Nichols' "Night Over Erzinga." Both move backward and forward in time to tell a sorrowful story rooted in war and atrocity, and both require a fluid ensemble in which actors play multiple related characters, such as a young mother in an earlier time and that same mother's grown daughter later on. In director Lisa Portes' beautifully crafted production, it's a rich, tensile and — given the grim back story — surprisingly funny multigenerational picture of what happens when people survive the unimaginable, only to find themselves utterly lost in a new world and at emotional odds with the people who are supposed to love and understand them the best. What Nichols teases out in many engaging ways is the question of how we use our dreams and our memories to sustain us — even when it would seem easier or even more salutary to forget both. Portes has assembled a terrific ensemble, with Sandra Delgado as young Alice and grown Ava doing some of the strongest work I've seen from her. Levi Holloway as young Ardavazt, Rom Barkhordar as the elder version, and Nicolas Gamboa as the conflicted but compassionate Bienvenido are also standouts in a cast loaded with smart and sensitive instincts. And Lee Keenan's set, with its overarching tree branches and quotidian kitchen-tile floor, captures the mix of profound family history and daily frustration Nichols lays bare.

Katy Walsh
Chicago Theater Beat

Playwright Adrianna Sevahn Nichols hits it hard with relational, cultural and mental anguish. The intensity is a brilliant mosaic of early twentieth century immigration mayhem and homeland insecurity. The acting is exceptional. Director Lisa Porters has the versatile cast morph into different generations of the same people.The talented ensemble tackle the decades long story with zest and sensitivity. In the lead, Sandra Delgado (young Alice/Ava) is outstanding. As Alice, she effectively goes back and forth from romantic dreamer to discontent housewife to asylum resident. Later, she plays Alice’s daughter with spunk and bitterness. With big expressive eyes and often saying nothing, Diana Simonzadeh (older Alice) haunts the stage. Simonzadeh perfectly illustrates a woman trapped in her own pain and hope. Playing multiple parts and using multiple accents, the multi-talented Michael Salinas gets huge laughs for his small roles. The central element of the set, designed by Lee Keenan, is a magnificent oversize tree with pieces of materials tied to its branches. The imagery symbolizes the strength of the family tree rooted in ancestry.

Oliver Sava
Timeout Chicago

As Nichols weaves together the past and present, Lisa Portes’s cast does strong work portraying different roles at various points in time. Delgado boldly transitions from Alice to Ava, losing the Armenian accent and gaining a youthful effervescence. Nicolas Gamboa gives a charismatic performance as Ava’s Dominican husband, Bienvenido.

Larry Bommer
Stage and Cinema

Playing Ardavazt and Alice as young and old partners, Sandra Delgado, Levi Holloway, Rom Barkhordar, and Diana Simonzadeh manage to be both astonishingly familiar and exotically unique, looking forward and backward as much as Rome’s Janus ever managed. Representing the third generation, Nicolas Gamboa and Delgado turn the culture clash that energizes and threatens their marriage into a series of gripping revelations. Michael Salinas switches wonderfully well between several portrayals, and Carolyn Hoerdemann is radiant even as she tackles seven disparate characters.

Johnny Oleksinski
Newcity Chicago

The unfathomable atrocity of the Armenian Genocide is the catalyst of Nichols’ drama that pits cultural heritage against assimilation and the family’s continuance against the individual’s dream. Director Lisa Portes has underscored the tumult of those events with stylized deluges into the pair’s childhoods back in Armenia, accompanied by verbally and physically expressed poetics. Under Lee Keenan’s web of metaphoric tree branches, Nichols’ Alice actually bears a passing resemblance to Lewis Carroll’s—this Wonderland, however, far more treacherous.

Michael Roberts
Showbiz Chicago

Sandra Delgado is stellar as young Alice and later as Ava. She has an innate on stage vulnerability that allows her to have two fantastic character arcs. Nicholas Gamboa commands the second act. He is reactive, sultry and emotionally fraught. Gamboa has great on stage chemistry with Delgado, but even more so with Rom Barkhordar’s older Ardavazt. The rest of the cast also turn in remarkable work, including Levi Holloway as the younger Ardavazt, Carolyn Hoerdemann as Ardavazt’s saintly mother, Michael Salinas as a menacing Turkish soldier and the always stunning Diana Simonzadeh who will make you weep for the love of your own mother with her portrayal as the mortal (and ghostly) matriarchs. Director Lisa Portes trusts her actors immensely as it pays off with very real relationships.

Bryce Isaacson
Chicago Theatre Review

Night Over Erzinga twinkles at Silk Road Rising. It is like a 50s-era epic. It has a massive, transgenerational scope, and richly fleshes out a great deal of characters. The story revolves around an Armenian family named Oghidanian, and chronicles the intimate details of no fewer than three generations. The stage is draped by the branches of an enormous tree. In its limbs hang pieces of clothing, like the ghosts of memory. The red and white checkered stage stretches out like a Dali painting, back into the Armenian sands of the past. Considering the skipping through time that occurs in the show, the scenery is appropriate. The story’s breadth is massive, and its texture feels like a combination of Fiddler on the Roof and The House on Mango Street, with splashes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The cast couldn’t be better. Sandra Delgado is fierce and mature as Alice, an attractive but strung-out woman who holds many secrets. Her daughter Estrella (Carolyn Hoerdemann) holds pain inside too, but is buoyed by her sunny Dominican husband, the exquisitely named Bienvenido Raymundo (Nicolas Gamboa). Gamboa is a radiant presence onstage, and his part is particularly well-written. I grew up in Latin American, and his every expression of thought and speech was a deadringer. Kudos to writer Adriana Sevahn Nichols for doing her homework. Rom Barkhordar also shows great range in multiple roles, but most notably as Older Ardavazt. He injects some much needed humor into the show, but also brings great gravitas when called for with a commanding voice and piercing, expressive gaze. Nichols has written a powerful story which is aided immensely by a superb cast.

Alice Singleton
Gapers Block

Erzinga is not a story about genocide, but a story about the "collateral damage" of genocide; the shame and shaming of the victims; the stench and aroma of madness that infects and plunders until the victim finds the key -- the lynchpin -- to unshackle themselves, first by finding the ways to accept that bitter herbs rest next to the sweetness of honey and apples in this life, the lives that came before, and Erzinga must be seen and experienced for what it is -- a remarkable work that resonates through all of us with a buy-in to the Family of Humankind.

Al Bresloff
Around the Town Chicago

Night Over Erzinga is an amazing World Premiere written by the incredible Adriana Sevahn Nichols, a detailed story of one family over a period of three generations. This is a family made up of Armenians and Dominicans that deals with the loss of family and how a grandmother can reach through time and unearth the true love and feelings of people who tend to keep all within themselves. The music by Peter J. Storms is sheer perfection to the moods being set in each of the scenes and the costuming (Elsa Hiltner) and lighting (Sarah Hughey) all add to the sheer magic of the production. Even the simple props (Jesse Gaffney) add to the overall flavor of the story. A simple pocket watch, on its own journey will give you a warm feeling about the relationship to this family. That is the magic of live theater.

John Olson
Talkin' Broadway

Atrocities are not precisely the theme of this ambitious and rich new play by Adriana Sevahn Nichols, but they are ever-present in this complex and compelling story of family and particular immigrant experiences in America. The stunning first act moves back and forth in time and geography between 1914-15 in Armenia and the '20s and '30s in Massachusetts. These abrupt shifts create an exceptionally meaty role for Sandra Delgado as Alice. Alice changes in age from 14 to late twenties and thirties in scenes that show her as an innocent teen, hopeful young adult, depressed housewife, and institutionalized patient. Delgado makes these shifts on a dime, and they are done with complete conviction and clarity. Alice's tragic and panoramic life is heartbreakingly real in Delgado's performance and we're with her throughout the gripping hour and fifteen-minute first act. In the second act, Delgado is given still another challenge—playing Alice's now-adult daughter (who now calls herself Ava) as a thirty-something in the early 1960s, with flashbacks to her teen years. The older Ava is a less complex character and, accordingly, Delgado's portrayal of it is less surprising than her work in the first act. In total, though, the actress's work in this play is formidable. Director Lisa Portes establishes a steady pace and finds striking ways to visualize the poetry of Nichols' words and ideas. The cast of eight seems larger than that as all except Holloway play multiple roles. A haunting performance is given by Diana Simonzadeh first as Alice's wise mother, then later as the older Alice after years of institutionalization. There's also some nice character work by Michael Salinas as a cop with a Boston Irish accent and as the delightfully slippery 1960s show biz impresario Johnny Jewels (as well as three other characters). The many locales and time periods are brought to life through the set by Lee Keenan and costumes by Elsa Hiltner, while Sarah Hughey's lighting design helps to manage the frequent time/place transitions.  The greater resonance of Night Over Erzinga is that so many of our neighbors have tragedy or hardship in the family histories that brought them to North America. Seeing this play, we are gratefully reminded how much we can learn, in very human terms, about our world and our community.