Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...The director, Steve Cosson, is attached to the ensemble-driven New York company known as the Civilians, and his work here not only forges a cohesive ensemble, but it is very carefully styled. I kept thinking how the banter of the pageant hosts, amusingly played by Dan Domingues and Yunuen Pardo, would be excruciating in the hands of a lesser director, but Cosson and his actors engage with the absurd, atrophied nature of all beauty contests on earth, and yet still forge earnest people, trying, like us all, to keep on keeping on, even when the doors are slammed shut."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...But for all the good intentions, and the alternately brash and poignant tales its predominantly female cast tells (along with spicy dance sequences choreographed by Maija Garcia, and songs by Hector Buitrago), the production is only fitfully entertaining. Far too long, and heavily repetitive, the play often feels like a laundry list of Colombia's ills, with the characters more like familiar archetypes than fully formed people."
Chicago Reader - Not Recommended
"...But the results fail to do justice to the subject matter. Fail by a long shot, actually. Despite some appealing performances, an intriguingly idiosyncratic score from Buitrago, and the cool minifloats on which the hopefuls ride as they greet their public, Another Word backfires in essential ways."
Windy City Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...No one can deny the professional polish displayed by a cast mostly imported by director Steve Cosson from his New York-based company, who deliver a varied group portrait of the subculture under scrutiny, ranging from Socorro Santiago's matronly Ciliana-born in Buen Pastor and reluctant to leave her "home"-to Dan Domingues' smarmy "guest host" struggling to retain his machismo amid a barrage of raucous whistles and shrill catcalls. Indeed, so charmed and entertained are we by such novelties as a guerrilla-uniform striptease routine or a ballad of a lover's revenge sung with special fervor by a real-life husband-murderer, that we can almost forget the grotesque irony of the exploitive charade to which we are witness-a brief moment of glory before injustice and corruption reign once again."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...The result is a veritable roller coaster ride. The episodic first act depicts the women's preparations for the pageant, with a contestant nominated from each patio, or cell block. Rivera does a lovely job of humanizing the contestants, creating intriguing relationships such as the friendship between a former militant leftist and a right-wing paramilitary assassin."
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...Some people have suggested Another Word for Beauty would do better if it shaved 15-30 minutes, but I think it could stand to lose most of Act I. It is possible for a two and a half hour long play to provide a very clear portrait of a large cast of characters and their position in a foreign society while hardly supplying any information about their background."
Around The Town Chicago - Recommended
"...There are times when giving a rating to a play that I have viewed is difficult. Do I rate the play on the script? On the acting? The direction? Or the entire production and its value? Tonight’s World Premiere of “Another Word for Beauty” , Jose Rivera’s play with music depicting the true stories of prisoners in a Columbian prison placed me in such an awkward position. The direction by Steve Cosson was a bit disjointed, but may have been because the script itself follows truth instead of a story by an author. It seems that Rivera took the inspiration of these stories and kept them as accurate as possible in order not to have anyone claim he re-wrote their story."
Chicago Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...The live music is a plus, as is Andrew Boyce’s massive set, enhanced by both Mike Tutaj’s beautiful projections and Robert Wierzel’s expressive lighting. Emily Rebholz’s authentic costuming gives this play the feel of a documentary and the choreography by Maija Garcia is vibrant and exciting. Spending an evening in the wise company of Ms. Santiago’s maternally nurturing Mermaid is probably the best reason for seeing this play."
Chicago Theater Beat - Somewhat Recommended
"...As they answer the usual hollow questions posed by Dan Domingues' unctuous emcee, the women defend their worth from the depths they're in. When asked for synonyms for beauty, the future winner declares, "There is no other word for beauty." That's as profound as The Civilians' gala ever gets."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Perhaps most astounding were the well fleshed-out characters of Yolanda, Xiomara, Marilin, Luzmery, Nora, Carmen, Isabelle and Jeimi. They are women who could go from weeping over their children being taken away from them, to camping it up with the host, to righteous indignation over the state of their treatment, all in one fell swoop. While the roles they played were those of women rendered powerless not just by their incarceration but also by the way their culture treats women, they clearly demonstrated how a woman is never truly powerless if she is brave and has sisterhood as her buoy. Another Word for Beauty is thought-provoking, humorous, exuberant and heart-breaking all at once, which makes for a complete theatrical experience."
NewCity Chicago - Not Recommended
"...What is perhaps most maddening about "Another Word For Beauty" actually has little to do with the play itself. The fact is that there are very few roles in theater for women of color. Rivera's play feels like the equivalent of rounding up all the sidekicks and token neighbors from all the bad sitcoms of the last twenty years and forcing lame exposition on them like Flintstones vitamins on a child. Far be it for this writer to claim what women of color need but I do believe they deserve far better than this."
