Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...So someone needs to go through this script with an eye for truth. The adapter's work smacks to me of the speculative screenplay. "Heat Wave" would indeed make for a great movie, but if Simoncic is writing a play, he is writing a play. And that means learning how to combine locales, deepen individual scenes and find the right theatrical metaphor. But there are scenes - most notably one between a police officer (Eric Staves) and a kid (Preston Tate Jr.) at Cabrini-Green - that are much better than the cheap shots and home in on the nub of this topic and the question of why all those deaths did not draw sufficient notice. There is an important show buried here, and one hopes everyone will keep working. (Cold Basement Dramatics collaborated with Steppenwolf Theatre for this production, as part of Steppenwolf's Garage Rep series.) Julia Carusillo, the main designer, does not have a lot to work with, but there is a start of something worthy. The show has a point of view and awareness of complexity."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The dialogue is intense, with one of the finest scenes a complexly reasoned face-off between a fiery black teen (Mykele Cullicut) hellbent on opening a fire hydrant for relief, and a cop (Eric Staves), who clearly has been trained in community policing, trying to prevent the water level in local buildings from falling further. Carmen Molina is the initially chilly city official, with Zach Livingston as her smarmy young press rep. And Richard Traub is just right as the reporter who prods a complacent editor (Gary Simmers)."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...The play asks for emotional buy-in for the career aspirations of a fabricated press secretary or the checkered past of a fictional quirky morgue volunteer, while the actual deceased remain largely abstract. Cold Basement’s often clumsy, poorly paced staging doesn’t improve things, with elaborate furniture-moving scene changes turning into traffic jams and much of the large cast substituting emphasis for emotional clarity. Read the book."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Heat Wave is skillfully and seamlessly constructed and enacted, a wake-up call for more than just global warming and urban indifference. The cumulatively overpowering staging by Rinska Carrasco-Prestinary is a tour d’ensemble to watch in wonder and warmly recall. Oh–and there’s free lemonade in the fact-filled lobby (where you can post your own memories of scorching suffering and survival). See it before the climate again gets too close for comfort."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...As a theatre piece, Heat Wave is a fine dramatization that is part docudrama and part polemic against the Mayor Daley’s Chicago government. The ensemble does fine work and the subject matter is a cautionary tale and reminder that we are all in this life together and we must all be responsible for each others welfare. This fast-paced drama has 15 effective actors that work hard presenting the problems of a natural disaster that could happen again."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...a compelling multi-layered narrative, and strong performances, especially by Arch Harmon, as Lester, and Claudia Dibiccari, who all but steals the show in a five minute monologue as a galvanized corpse, make the production extremely moving."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This bold, gritty, scathing portrayal of one of Chicago’s darkest moments is a terrific, unflinching look at the victims and unsung heroes from that time. It’s produced with style and finesse by a director and her gifted, high-tech production team. Over a dozen supremely talented actors assume multiple roles in a play that could possibly be trimmed in length, but never fails to draw its audience into a real-life tragedy that most folks have forgotten. Once audiences experience this production, they’ll never forget again."
