Mike Mother at Neo-Futurists

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...Anne's tale - lyrical and scabrous by turns - wouldn't work nearly as well without Hamilton as her foil and partner in dramaturgical crime. He coaxes and prods her, providing a calming balance to her intensity. (Anne's naturally high, squeaky voice also provides an odd counterweight to the gravity of some of the stories she tells.) Director Matthews helps craft this odd but compelling voyage into a childhood psychic nightmare with a steady hand. What resonates most strongly afterward isn't the central tale but the strategies - fictive and otherwise - that helped Anne (and, by implication, the rest of us) rearrange a manic and disturbing past into a more hopeful present-day narrative."

Chicago Reader - Recommended

"...Interestingly, Mike Mother falls flat only when Jessica Anne and fellow performer Mike Hamilton attempt conventional sincerity. The rest of the time, it's funny, cunning, witty, literally splashy, and exhilarating in its reckless reverence for the truth."

Windy City Times - Somewhat Recommended

"...The value of your experience at such performances probably will depend on the degree to which you are engaged by the auteur's personal story, and the theatricality with which the story is told. I liked the last such piece a lot, Pop Waits, featuring partners/clowns Malic White and Molly Brennan. This one I didn't like so much-not because it's bad but because I found myself less engaged in the story and personality of author/central figure Jessica Anne."

Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Slippery and surprising as it is, Mother uses authentic connection as the most effective tool in its one-of-a-kind toolbox. Connection between the performers and the audience, between Anne and Hamilton, and between Anne and her own past cuts through the fog, and while viewers are left to contemplate what exactly they’ve just seen, what they’ve just felt is much clearer."

The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended

"...MIKE MOTHER is unforgettable. Jessica Anne is an innovative storyteller. By the end, I felt like I knew her. She is the break-out success in a therapy group I participated in. If I ever see her again, I'd want to give her an encouraging nod, hug or shot of whiskey. Jessica Anne shows us the courageous spunk of a survivor."

Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended

"...Squeaky-voiced Neo-Futurist Jessica Anne (no last name for a reason to be revealed) has created and performs a provoking mash-up of memoir and performance art, a solo show, with two people, barefoot wearing white shirts and ties, about growing up with her troubled mother."

NewCity Chicago - Recommended

"..."Mike Mother" is funny. "Mike Mother" is sentimental but not saccharine. In the lobby, clips of carrion sitcoms play. "Mike Mother" ostensibly breaks promises, but I trust it. It reminds us of the continuity of stories and the lives around them. "Mike Mother" is not an easy experience, but it's the challenges that make us better."