Cicada presented by Route 66 Theatre Company at The Greenhouse Theater Center

Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended

"...I would not say Weiss' production (which features a resonant set by Brian Sidney Bembridge) was perfectly cast, nor is the narrative trajectory as clear as it could be, and there are times when you crave a more relaxed and less intense production that better humanized this world and that came replete with a more of a sense of humor, if only as a counterbalance to all of the trauma, angst and poetic symbolism. (My favorite line of the night was "I'll sleep when I'm dead." "No, you won't." Touche.)"

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Haunted southerners given to waxing poetic aren't exactly an untapped vein in theater, but Dye supplies piquant dialogue and a tragic sense of how the past can squeeze out the present. Both the quick and the dead are sensitively played by the fine cast of this Route 66 Theatre Company staging, which benefits from dreamlike atmospherics and a set (designed by Brian Sidney Bembridge) that feels at once claustrophobic and on the verge of collapse."

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"...In lesser hands, Dye's monologue-heavy play runs the risk of covering similar ground repeatedly (if it weren't for moving performances by Wingate and Robert Breuler, some of the supporting characters could read as redundant), but an exceptional women-driven cast finds the nuances of each piece. As mother and son, Matheny and Kirby create a bond made even more convincing by its dissonance. Codependent but yearning for more, Kirby reconciles his character's suffocation in his rural surroundings with his desire to keep his mom afloat. Letting go, Dye and Weiss demonstrate, is much more difficult when you're not the only one holding on."

ShowBizChicago - Highly Recommended

"...It is a rare instance when theatre is so powerful it literally knocks the wind out of you. Well, that is exactly what happened after witnessing the final scene in Erica Weiss’ impeccably directed World Premiere of Jerre Dye’s Cicada."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended

"...The playwright has created a wonderfully mysterious world in which his characters live, but I wished there was just a dash more drive to the plot in the first half. This is a small concern as the story unfolds and we a taken on a magical journey, expertly directed by Erica Weiss."

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...Certain to be compared with other southern playwrights like Lillian Hellman and Horton Foote, Jerre Dye’s play about a middle-aged woman haunted by the ghosts of her past is more reminiscent of Tennessee Williams, even Harper Lee. In his current work, audiences will find the promise of an exciting new playwright represented in a memorable, thought-provoking production by one of Chicago’s consistently fine theatrical companies. In the intimate Greenhouse Studio audiences will discover an evening that both turns up the heat while offering a few chills. Throughout everything the cicadas continue to sing until they die."