Nana at Trap Door Theatre

Chicago Reader - Recommended

"...What makes the performance most memorable is Abdi showing what’s under the hood of the defiant iconoclast, from suffering heartbreaking abuse to being overwhelmed as a mother. This production uses physicality to create freewheeling highs and shocking lows, a testament to the violence and intimacy design of Bill Gordon. Memorable song and dance numbers also punctuate the chaos, with a lively can-can and more sinister dominance/submission duets adding layers of color to this demented bordello."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...The stage adaptation by Olwen Wymark is one that Trap Door Theatre has returned to for the first time in over twenty years, and the production co-directed by Nicole Wiesner and Miguel Long shows that there’s still a lot of excitement and morbid humor to be found in the story."

Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended

"...For the final show of its 30th anniversary season, Trap Door Theatre—the little company that could—has selected a sure-fire hit with a production of “Nana,” a play based on the 19th century melodrama about an actress and bordello courtesan, Nana, by French author Emile Zola."

Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended

"...The play is Nana, about a 19th century up-from-the-gutters courtesan turned Paris stage star, and the object of slavering desire of many wealthy men. Olwen Wymark’s play, a story of sexual and financial greed, is adapted from Emile Zola’s 1880 novel, and it’s on stage now at Trap Door Theatre. Miguel Long and Nicole Weisner direct this highly physical, comic production. (Choreography by Miguel Long, set design by Merje Veski, costumes by Rachel Sypniewski, makeup by Zsófia Ötvös.)"

NewCity Chicago - Recommended

"...Directed by Miguel Long and Nicole Wiesner, this “Nana” has a number of strengths. One is the original piano music by frequent Trap Door composer and sound designer Danny Rockett. The production is entirely scored, like a movie, and the music sets the mood—from Nana’s triumph, when she emerges as Venus on a swing, to her increasing troubles."