Chicago Reader - Not Recommended
"...It's hard to imagine a richer setting for an American problem play than the home of a working-class Irish-American family in Detroit in the autumn of 1968—all those complicated Irish-Catholic personal problems (alcoholism, sexual repression, hair-trigger tempers, free-floating anger) and heady issues of the day (race riots, Vatican II, Vietnam, intergenerational strife, not to mention the 1968 World Series) almost literally at the doorstep. Which makes it all the more frustrating that Chicago-based writer Chuck O'Connor does so little with what he has, choosing instead to pack his play with all the expected Catholic types and tropes (the hip young priest, the rebellious prodigal son, the self-destructive father, the uptight sister who's a nun)."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...O'Conner's narrative style hearkens to early 20th-century literary conventions, spooling out its exposition a bit too tidily and delaying his moment of peripeteia a bit too long. Director Richard Shavzin and his cast, however, give full attention to the intimate details lending plausibility, within the context of its author's universe, to each character's decisions ( even including a chaste kiss of peace or two ). Anyway, in an age when people's actions are increasingly ruled by impetuous expedience, a story concluding with wayward human beings discovering their true vocations after searching their misguided motives is commendable, certainly."
Edge - Somewhat Recommended
"...Although the newness of the work is largely a strength here, it presents a challenge to the performers. All four actors are talented and the performances are very good overall, but each has ups and downs. Laura Berner Taylor (Clare) and Rian Jairell (Father Lentine) open the play with a particularly well-executed scene in which Clare has clear expectations for a rote confession and doling out of penance."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Still, there are able performances all around. There's not much growth or arc in any of the characters, but O'Sullivan's resolved, quiet and steady delivery helps the father/son story achieve the tone Shavzin seems to be aiming for. By the time we get to the titular fall, O'Connor's real statement comes to light, and it's a moving one. I was just wishing that fall were a bit deeper."
Stage and Cinema - Not Recommended
"...Directing Polarity Ensemble Theatre's world premiere, tried and truthful Richard Shavzin tries to shape these squabbles into drama. But, wrongly assuming you can talk your troubles away, O'Connor's script is like a deadly business meeting where the "old business" allows little time for new stuff. The problems, especially this tough-hating father, are too easily fixed by a convenient death, a ghostly appearance, and an empty symbolic act. You won't believe in Miracles."
ChicagoCritic - Not Recommended
"...In the end, Miracles in the Fall suffers from a script filled with Catholic faith cliches, incredulous characters who mix their faith with baseball as they fight and argue in situations that defy belief. The acting, especially from Mickey O ‘Sullivan and Laura Berner Taylor, was so filled with rage that it is a miracle that the two didn’t kill one another! This play is a collection of cliche situations, mixed motifs and improbable motivations. We get tired of all the screaming from characters we simply don’t like making the two hours we spend with them tedious."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Richard Shavzin makes fairly good use of the small performance space at the Greenhouse Theatre. It is a tight space to work in and the direction becomes a bit stagnant at times because of this. Although the action moves pretty swiftly from scene to scene, Shavzin should have found some inventive ways to keep things moving during some of the talky, family discussion scenes."
Chicago Theatre Review - Somewhat Recommended
"...Liv Morris wrote in Adam’s Fall that “hate is a disease, but love is its only cure.” This may well be the promise that finally saves Sister Clare and Father Lentine from their own personal hell and delivers the audience from all the despair found within the play’s two hour running time. While Chuck O’Connor’s drama has considerable merit it would benefit from a few minutes of happiness and an injection of some much-needed humor in which to balance all the anger and misery. That would be the miracle required in this Fall."
