Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Director Louis Contey has an uncanny gift for tapping into this writer's searing, heart-baring style with its mix of deep poetic realism and near-operatic emotions. And not only has he orchestrated fine ensemble playing by his 14 actors, but he has made sure they each supply just the right musical voice to bring this story of volatile times and volatile people to life."
Daily Herald - Highly Recommended
"...TimeLine's fine production has much more going for it than good timing. It has a sure-handed director in Louis Contey, whose vital, well-paced revival unfolds on Karen Hoffman's inventively conceived, comfortably middle class set dominated by baby grand piano."
SouthtownStar - Highly Recommended
"...Louis Contey's direction is so sharp and the portraits of a family in the throes of struggle and despair so authentic that the production holds us in rapt attention."
Pioneer Press - Recommended
"...While the entire ensemble is outstanding, special credit must go to Jeremy Glickstein as the smarmy Kewpie -- a difficult, complex role that mixes villainy and remorse. McCartney is a larger than life as bombastic Katz, while Kingston portrays Leo Gordon as a very honorable, decent man who bends but never breaks no matter what the provocation."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Janet Ulrich Brooks as matriarch Clara, a character who could easily feel like a palimpsest of Awake's Bessie Berger, is a compelling blend of vinegar and sugar. Not everyone in the ensemble is as comfortable as she is with Odets's rhythms, but no one resorts to cheap mannerisms. Karen Hoffman's imaginative set, edging into expressionism, adds a fresh take on a play whose themes still resonate in these days of rampant foreclosures."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...the cast here—directed with great intelligence and heart by Louis Contey—is so good that it’s easy to over look the fact that for Odets has created a piece that’s propagandist teaching tool first and entertainment second."
Chicago Free Press - Highly Recommended
"...Contey’s command of this Depression-era tapestry is as awesome as the author’s. TimeLine, a troupe who can do no theatrical wrong, assembles an ensemble so right for their parts and each other that 1932 is tomorrow. Scott Aiello is a force of nature as the firebrand who most speaks for the author."
Gay Chicago Magazine - Somewhat Recommended
"...Odets does pen some finely etched characters, 19 in total. TimeLine’s cast of 14 certainly brings justice to each and every one of them despite the unbalanced tone, mood and intensity of a unified cast. Among the best is Jeremy Glickstein as Kewpie, a young cab driver turning to a life of crime, and Whit Spurgeon as Gus, the down-on-his-luck relative-in-law who arrives one day and never leaves. These two gentlemen with their period flavor were born to play Odets’ characters."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Emerging from the throes of the Great Depression, Paradise Lost, in its greatest passages, is a kind of articulate primal scream. While TimeLine’s production has deep respect and admiration for the moment that produced the play and the artists who toiled to create it, it never howls quite as loud."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Timeline Theatre continues to maintain the highest standards of theatrical craft. Paradise Lost is a gripping peek into a most trying period of the American Experience. The journey produces a marvelous evening of theatre. An outstanding ensemble drama awaits."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...There are far too many characters and disparate plot line offshoots for any one player to pull focus, but there is some solid work, particularly from Michael Kingston and Janet Ulrich Brooks as the Gordon parents, and Scott Aiello as the fiery radical Lucas Pike. Whit Spurgeon, Mechelle Moe, Brian McCartney and Aaron Golden all distinguish themselves as Odets’ impassioned and intellectual treaty plays out its poignant course."