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  Play Details

Ten Cent Night

Chicago Dramatists
1105 W Chicago Chicago

Dad's shot himself in the head and failed musician Roby Finley is on her way home to Burkeville, TX, with a suitcase full of stolen cash to save her heart-sick sister. A family comedy from a time when a dime could buy you a phone call home.

Thru - Oct 26, 2008


Price:$15-$30

Show Type: Comedy

Box Office: 312-633-0630

Running Time: 2hrs 50mins; two intermissions

www.chicagodramatists.org



  Review Round-Up

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...Richard Shavzin's production isn't perfect -- the staging has clunky moments and, early on, needs more pace. But the show is beautifully cast and grabs you very intensely. ; "Ten Cent Night" is structured more like a screenplay, and you can see Wegrzyn with her own cultish TV series. But for the here and now in Chicago, this is a moving night of new theater worth far more than a dime."
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Chris Jones


Chicago Sun Times - Recommended

"...director Richard Shavzin has expertly modulated the volatile scenes with the more poignant, intimate ones, and his uniformly gifted cast acts the stuffings out of this play. A first-rate way to herald the start of the Chicago Dramatists’ 30th anniversary season."
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Hedy Weiss


Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"...Shavzin’s otherwise plain production has three exceptional performances in Carini as the sister with the wandering heart and shit-kicking authority, Patten as the baby sis with literal and figurative heart problems, and wonderful Kidwell as the daughter who gets bubkes for holding down the family fort."
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Christopher Piatt


Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...Director Richard Shavzin's ensemble has a good handle on the beefy wit woven through Wegrzyn's dialogue--particularly the entrancing Anna Carini as Roby, heir-apparent to her wastrel father's ways. But the revelations here aren't so much shocking as dramaturgically convenient. Metaphors tend to poke up like busted springs on a sofa, and the emotional connections between the characters sometimes feel forced."
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Kerry Reid


NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...Killer scene, but you have to wade through nearly three house of “Ten Cent Night” to get there. Stuffed with eccentric characters and interlocking stories, Marisa Wegrzyn’s newest play could use a good-old-fashioned edit. Too many random ideas are never fully developed."
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Nina Metz


Chicago Free Press - Highly Recommended

"...Director Richard Shavzin’s most admirable feat here is the level of natural detail he is able to extract from the performers. His taut pace and enthusiasm reveal themselves through the simplicity and magical energy of the cast. Shavzin’s rhythmical creation is also aided immensely by the multi-dimensional, rotating set design of Sebastien Grouard."
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Brian Kirst


Gay Chicago Magazine - Highly Recommended

"...The acting is compelling and true. Anna Carini offers an intense, physically energetic portrayal of Roby, simultaneously thief and angel. Joshua Rollins communicates silent Danny with clarity and heart. Lauren Patten as younger sister Sadie, gives a tender performance but seems too externally energetic for anyone, even aged sixteen, having a three-month prognosis. We believe Maura Kidwell as repressed Dee, the sister longing to experience love."

Carla Gordon


Centerstage - Highly Recommended

"...It's unquestionable that any play with a running time of two hour and 45 minutes tends to make most audience members balk a bit. Two intermissions? Three acts? It does sound rather imposing. Luckily, Wegrzyn's dynamic script—along with the impressively versatile set design by Sebastien Grouard and the powerful performances of the entire cast—makes the time fly by."
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Zach Freeman


ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...Playwright Marisa Wegrzyn deftly resolves all the complications and plot twists neatly and plausibly. This is well thought out play that is a tad long as it could use some cuts—especially in the bonding scenes with the younger twins and the handcuff scenes with Roby. As presented, “Ten Cent Night” is a refreshing original work with shades of Lanford Wilson and Sam Shepard but with more quirkiness and humor."
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Tom Williams


   This show has been Jeff Recommended*

*The designation of "Jeff Recommended" is given to a production when at least ONE ELEMENT of the show was deemed outstanding by the opening night judges of The Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee. The entire production is then eligible for nomination for awards at the end of the season.
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