Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...I confess to being no great fan of science fiction. But for all its subtly futuristic trappings, "Pilgrims" - now in a beautifully realized world premiere at The Gift Theatre (a company with a notable gift for showcasing engrossing new plays) - the voyage to a newly discovered planet is really just a metaphor for an escape from the past. And it animates Kiechel's story ideally."
Chicago Reader - Not Recommended
"...All the unconvincing dialogue, underdeveloped story lines, unrecognizable psychology, and untenable physics (sound "works differently" on other planets) makes this world premiere one-act ring continually false. Directors Michael Patrick Thornton and Jessica Thebus extract all the emotional gravitas such flimsy material allows, only to be thwarted by Kiechel's overplayed finale."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...There's a sense of vagueness to the entire show. It's there in the two main performances, it's there in Thornton's and Thebus's direction and it's there in Kiechel's script. It's all fine and well that the world outside the cabin feels somewhat amorphous. The problem is that the world inside the cabin-and on the stage-feels indistinct as well."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...As these two mismatched roommates travel to infinity and beyond, through weeks and months, toward their new home in the universe, secrets are shared, desires are explored and relationships evolve. Both the soldier and the girl suffer from their own individual post traumatic stress disorder, but as pioneers on the verge of colonizing a new world they eventually are forced together to become one."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...The relationship between the Girl and Soldier is the play's primary conflict, driving the story forward and lending emotional credence to a tale whose sweeping plot of interplanetary travel and earthly collapse could otherwise alienate viewers. Pilgrims builds an intensely emotional, character-driven drama out of assorted sci-fi tropes, like space travel, contagious disease, interplanetary war, robots, and aliens. Underneath the veneer of science fiction, though, Pilgrims tells a story whose themes of war, love and regret are - no pun intended - universal."
NewCity Chicago - Recommended
"...In sci-fi narratives, there is often the potential to succumb to the setting, technology and implications of a futuristic/apocalyptic era. While “Pilgrims” finds the perfect balance of creating this world for the viewer, there are still ambiguities in the characters’ own histories that leave the audience wanting."
