Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Kevin Hagan's clever triptych of a set and Zachery Alexander's period-perfect costumes, tell a story of their own in this play about lost souls who can inflict pain even as they seek to make things right."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Vivid, volatile, detailed performances drive director Sarah Moeller's shrewdly cast, skillfully acted Eclipse Theatre production of this 2003 work by Stephen Adly Guirgis-not so much a coherent play as a collection of edgy, darkly comic, often profane set pieces."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Stephen Adly Guirgis's early work Our Lady of 121st Street, which debuted in 2002, is one of the most popular sources of scenes and monologues for actors in training. With a large, diverse cast of troubled and bizarre characters, it provides ample opportunity for performers to make memorable impressions in just a few minutes. The play is also a snapshot of a community, instead of a traditional story, and therefore, it's interesting to see how a professional production handles it. In the second production of Eclipse Theatre Company's Guirgis season, director Sarah Moeller rises to the challenge of placing twelve actors on a studio stage filled with realistic depictions of multiple locations, creating a piece that is multifaceted, yet unified."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...After even one year of Catholic school, the Sign of the Cross is ingrained into your physicality. You address men and women of the cloth as "Father" and "Sister" without a second thought, and know exactly when your last confession was. Our Lady of 121st Street is a tribute to innocence lost and the lasting effects of childhood religion. Lovingly written, directed and designed, this funeral dramedy is a fitting second act of Eclipse's all-Guirgis season."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Eclipse Theatre Company’s production is, overall, an affecting examination of how a community grapples with death, faith and retribution. While the production has some missteps, none of them are large enough to water down Guirgis’ sobering material. Several strong performances and a courageous, unflinching script combine for a moving and memorable evening of theater."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...A friend put it best: Stephen Adly Guirgis makes theater feel cool. You can see a similar phenomenon in the cultish enthusiasm for Ike Holter. But while Holter’s plays are radically of their time, Guirgis is more old school, locating characters that are deeply entrenched in their ways with little or no hope for the kind of upending change that audiences, themselves in search of validation for their own entrenched lives, desire. This is what makes Guirgis such an exceptional playwright. It’s also what makes his plays, including “The Lady of 121st Street,” so difficult to navigate successfully."
