REVIEWS OF PAST STREETSIGNS PRODUCTIONS

Select critical responses to the current 2003 StreetSigns season.

Memorable. A sterling example of how to do it right. The production of Dream Boy is a model of what theater can be. Those who attend will get an object lesson in the tremendous power and beauty that live theater can impart.
- Roy Dicks, Raleigh News and Observer

Brilliant, rousing, glorious. Twilight is a play that we all need to see again and again so we don't forget.
--Linda Belans, Raleigh News and Observer

Admirable, powerful, a true 'Turn.' Such a well thought-through conception (of Turn of the Screw), well cast and aesthetically visualized, gives added worthiness to the StreetSigns mission of innovative stagings of literature.
--Roy Dicks, Raleigh News and Observer

{As You Like It is} a charming StreetSigns production. Priceless, truly amusing, gratifying, complex, and we're grateful for it.
--Byron Woods, The Independent Weekly

Riveting, painful, and frighteningly real. Dream Boy is an obvious nominee for season superlatives. The strongest ensemble of the season.
--Byron Woods, The Independent Weekly

Splendid, beautifully conveyed. Goldman's adaptation of Turn of the Screw admirably captures the sense, sound, and weight of James' style.
--Scott Ross, Classical Voice of North Carolina

Using vivid video footage of the riots and jarring snippets of contemporary radio and television broadcasts, Derek Goldman creates a chilling visual and aural tapestry that serves as a backdrop for the fiery first-person testimony of a broad cross-section of victims of and witnesses to the riots and other pertinent parties. His assignment of characters, his orchestration of their emotions, and, most of all, his brilliant choreography of the segues from scene to scene make TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 a truly remarkable theatrical experience and easily one of StreetSigns' best productions since relocating from Chicago to Chapel Hill, NC.
-- Robert McDowell, Classical Voice of North Carolina

{Dream Boy is} exquisitely moving, heart-breaking, immensely appealing.
-- Scott Ross, Classical Voice of North Carolina

Since relocating from Chicago to Chapel Hill, the StreetSigns Center for Literature and Performance has wowed Triangle audiences with a succession of highly imaginative, high-quality theatrical productions.
– The Spectator

The vitality of the young StreetSigns company under director Derek Goldman was {the year's} biggest gain. In the course of a few months, the ambitious troupe presented two world premiere adaptations of a Victorian comic novel and a tribute to Allen Ginsberg, and then a North American premiere of an avant-garde French epic.  The kinds of things that keep you going to the theater.
-- Hedy Weiss, Andrew Patner--Chicago Sun-Times, 1998 Year-End Review 

StreetSigns is a theater company on the road to success with a unique social commitment ... Their work helps youths cope with the difficulties they face living in some of the toughest neighborhoods in the city ... This is an organization that is going places.
-- Karyn Kaminski, Art and Performance Magazine

Collaborative efforts as demonstrated by StreetSigns should be emulated by other groups if they really have a commitment to youth.  These workshops not only develop skills for our youth but help to develop their self-confidence.
-- Khaleed London, Director, Tranquility Youth, Intervention Network

In this crowded field of those who cheerfully find the dramatic in the undramatic, the StreetSigns company has managed to find an arresting niche.  StreetSigns selects intriguing material and performs it in an intensely choreographed, irreverently zesty manner.
-- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

Remarkable . . . This Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is a miracle. One of the strongest ensembles I have seen on stage in years… The most seamless fusion of theater and modern dance I have seen anywhere… A deep and true production.
– Byron Woods, Raleigh News & Observer

With Goldman’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, StreetSigns adds to its reputation as one of the Triangle’s premier presenters of cutting-edge contemporary theater and original dramas. A must-see show.
-- Robert McDowell, Raleigh Spectator

Goldman’s ensemble captures beautifully Chekhov’s sense of aimless defeat and the perils of a starving soul. This production of The Seagull will fly. Highly recommended!
-- Orla Swift, Raleigh News & Observer

Wave When You Pass was profoundly moving—from the 92 year old African-American woman conveying the story of how our world was created, to the woman of Hispanic background speaking in her native tongue while relating her perceptions through movement. From the elderly harmonica player to the college students sharing the results of their conversations with county residents, and then to the African-American church Choir (comprised of all ages—young children to adults) leading the audience in a rousing gospel song finale. It was quite an event—shaped out of the simple premise of what values and beliefs are borne out of what ‘home’ and a ‘sense of place’ means to each and every one of us.
-- David zum Brunnen, Executive Director—North Carolina Theatre Conference

Heartrending … There are no words adequate enough to express the pain …This superlative production of Tongue of a Bird marks a most impressive Triangle main stage debut for StreetSigns.
-- Robert McDowell, The Spectator

Flawless … Uniformly incredible … This Tongue of a Bird is deeply layered, and the more layers you pass through, the more potent and wrenching this work becomes.
-- Alan Hall, Chapel Hill News

Part Brecht, part Beckett, StreetSigns' The Perjured City leapfrogs past the processed-cheese musings on poverty of Steppenwolf's "Time to Burn" to challenge the hypocrisy of the powerful in ways not seen here since the '60's.  StreetSigns has demonstrated that it is the most exciting company to emerge in Chicago since John Cusack's New Criminals.
-- Andrew Patner, Chicago Sun-Times  

StreetSigns' The Perjured City is a crushingly inventive production ... succeeds on multiple, overlapping, intersecting levels.  Searing performances ... the cast brims with honest rage, solemnity, discord and hope. 
-- Lucia Mauro, New City

The Perjured City is a stunning allegorical treatise in Greek drama form on the pursuit of justice in the modern world. StreetSigns, the little theater with the big ideas, bites off and thoroughly digests this huge, three-hour, 25-person chunk of challenging theater.  For mesmerizing theater, it is an experience to be savored.
-- Kathleen Tobin, Beverly Review

Derek Goldman's production of Hamlet is exceptionally smart ... beautifully staged.  This is a Hamlet with substance.  Most impressive!
-- Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

StreetSigns' Hamlet is volcanic ... explosive ... provocative.  Most fascinating is this astute production's visual dissections of its multidimensional characters, whose bodies appear refracted by the glass.  'See it now!'
-- Lucia Mauro, New City  

StreetSigns' perfect-pitch staging of Tales of the Lost Formicans depicts what's left of our humanity with unerring compassion ... stunning ... magnificent ... Highly Recommended!
-- Lawrence Bommer, Chicago Reader

StreetSigns' A Death in the Family is a wonderful show!  Highly Recommended!
-- Mary Shen Barnidge, This Month on Stage

Beautiful, resonant, communicates the deeper currents in Agee's brooding work.  StreetSigns' A Death in the Family will live on in your memory long after the final curtain. Highly Recommended!
-- Jack Helbig, New City

StreetSigns' A Death in the Family is a glowing production... resonates with hard-earned poetry and childlike lyricism.  It's as if Agee had frozen a moment in words, and so in time, and now the theater can unlock that moment as if he'd just written it-- as if it just happened.  This Death in the Family offers that kind of epiphany.  Highly Recommended!
-- Lawrence Bommer, Chicago Reader

Derek Goldman's ambitious and sensitive new stage version of A Death in the Family is achingly poetic, artfully staged, and beautifully integrated ... Masterful, gorgeous ...  the production is filled with exceptional poetry and grace in this elegiac but surprisingly steely staging. It's quite an achievement.  Highly Recommended!
-- Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

StreetSigns' A Death in the Family is a very beautiful production ... Invites its audience to be children again.
-- Jennifer Atkin, Skyline

Goldman's seamless production of Kaddish for Allen Ginsberg covers deftly a world of pain.  The text flows and sparkles like cold honey in sunlight.  The production is terrifically creative and well-deserving of an audience.
-- Catey Sullivan, Gay Chicago

A full-blooded tribute to a great renegade ... StreetSigns'Kaddish For Allen Ginsberg captures the anarchic spirit of the late Beat poet and reclaims him magnificently.
-- Lawrence Bommer, Chicago Tribune 

The ambitious StreetSigns theatre group's production of Kaddish celebrates and perfectly captures Ginsberg ... thoughtfully, rollickingly.
-- Andrew Patner, Chicago Sun-Times

StreetSigns' lyrical tribute Kaddish for Allen Ginsberg is affecting ... sensual ... confident ... intricate.  Highly Recommended!
-- Bryon Upton, Windy City Times 

How's this for glorious schizophrenia?  The folks at StreetSigns pull off this bizarre pairing (Kaddish for Allen Ginsberg and Three Men In A Boat) triumphantly.  Go and enjoy... Crazy.  Thank goodness!
-- Andrew Patner, Chicago Sun-Times

StreetSigns' Three Men In A Boat captures the snidely luminous tone of Jerome's writing.  A chattily civilized production free of weary pomposity ... glides along swimmingly.  Recommended!
-- Lucia Mauro, New City

Three Men In A Boat has been forged by StreetSigns into a jolly romp to delight Victoriana buffs, literary aficionados and armchair wayfarers alike. Highly Recommended!
-- Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City Times

StreetSigns' Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a theater piece of most extraordinary depth.  It soars with the intimacy of Joyce's writing ... Spellbinding ... It is rare to have a production and ensemble meld so closely into one unit.  An exquisite masterpiece to rival its literary counterpart.  Not to be missed!
-- Kathleen Tobin, Beverly Review

StreetSigns' Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man is stunningly brilliant ... by far the most powerful, original, and ambitious adaptation of Joyce for stage or film I've ever seen, so much so that the category adaptation hardly contains it ...  Magically evocative, eloquent and moving.
-- Christine Froula Director of Graduate Studies in English/Joycean scholar, Northwestern University

StreetSigns' Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man is one of 1996's best and most innovative productions 
-- Jonathan Abarbanel, WBEZ-FM,  PerformInk

Miraculous, eloquent, StreetSigns' The Public pays tribute to the power of theater.
-- Lawrence Bommer, Chicago Tribune

The Public is memorable and triumphant, a constantly shifting visual and aural spectacle catapulted by the intricate teamwork of the entire troupe.
-- Mary Shen Barnidge, Chicago Reader

Pure gold ... Rage Within/Without rises far above the simplistic and polarizing platitudes that usually characterize media discussions of domestic abuse ... a thrill to watch.
-- Justin Hayford, "Critic's Choice,"  Chicago Reader

StreetSigns' Mazel and Shlimazel is the best program we have ever had.  The kids and adults were so charmed and moved.  According to students teachers and parents' responses, there is no doubt that you have touched these children's lives. 
-- Batia Rabec, Education Director, Congregation Beth Shalom

The success of StreetSigns' Night of the Mime earlier this year demonstrated just how eager Chicago audiences are for ... clever satire.  Delivers plenty of laughs! Highly Recommended.
-- Mary Shen Barnidge, "Critic's Choice," Chicago Reader 

Kudos 1996.  Best Directors:  Derek Goldman--StreetSigns' Night of The Mime
-- Lawrence Bommer, Windy City Times

The members of your company outdid themselves ... All of us who saw Right As Rain were touched to the core of our souls.  I can only hope that more students will have the opportunity to witness this masterpiece.
-- Hanna Lubowsky, Anshe Emet Day School

The performance of Right As Rain is so brilliant that no viewer can be left indifferent ... The ensemble is impeccable; every moment is full of fire and light ... We recommend with all our hearts to every one of our readers that they witness this beautiful play.
-- CBET, Russian National Newspaper 

I cannot find the right words that will appropriately express the powerful impact your play Right as Rain had... We talked for hours following the play.  The performers did a wonderful job--taking hold of the hearts and souls of the audience.  We began crying early on ...The ending had us all sobbing, wanting to cry out loud to a world that should have listened to the suffering of the Jewish people.
-- Dr. Anne M. Lidsky, Director of Religious Education, Temple Jeremiah

You have my sincerest compliments on your superb interpretation of the story of Anne Frank.  Simply said, the students in my World and American History classes MUST see the message carried by the play Right As Rain.  It is very important to their education.
-- Craig Pfanncuhke, Crystal Lake South High School

I was overwhelmed by the impact of the play ... I was especially impressed by the actors, who shared their personal feelings and experiences with members of the audience following the production.  They spoke with honesty and candor, and it was evident that participating in the cast has had a profound impact on each and every cast member as well as on their audiences ... I heartily recommend StreetSigns' production of Right As Rain. 
-- Lisa Goldstein, Director of Education, Congregation Solel

Right As Rain really brought the Anne Frank story to life in a way that I didn't think was possible.  It was the best play I've ever seen because it made me realize that what happened in the Holocaust could happen to anyone ... and how people went along with it.
-- Tyrone, 9th grader from Plamondon School

I was profoundly moved, inspired, in awe, and humbled by Behind the Front: A Response to the Ongoing AIDS Epidemic.  Words are inadequate to capture the magnitude of the work.  It was raw, passionate, committed, gutsy, political -- everything I most respect about performance.  Thank you!
-- Dwight Conquergood, Chair of Performance Studies, Northwestern University

Behind the Front is one of the boldest and most beautiful statements, personally, politically, and theatrically, which I have ever seen.
-- Frank Galati, Tony-Award Winning Director,
Goodman Theater Associate Artistic Director
and Steppenwolf Theater Ensemble Member