Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...When things get a little over-ripe in Hansen’s story of the underbelly of the cloisters, director Elise Kauzlaric gives the audience permission for the occasional tension-releasing laugh. And yet, at other moments, the production also captures the music and rhythms of the monastic life with both dignity and poetry. You never quite know which way things are going to go, and that gives this show, one of the best Lifeline productions I’ve seen, a genuinely seductive tension."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...The production, flawlessly adapted by Christina Calvit and directed by Elise Kauzlaric with a mix of magic and grace, also serves as a major showcase for a phenomenal young actress, Brenda Barrie, whose portrayal of Mariette Baptiste, the beautiful young postulant who brings chaos to the Catholic convent she hopes to enter, is nothing short of wizardry -- uncanny in its sense of truth, mystery and ambiguity."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Under Elise Kauzlaric's formal but fluid direction, 11 women and a priest inhabit Alan Donahue's rustic set as though they've lived there for years, letting simple tasks--cleaning, praying, chatting--reveal the richness of lives devoted to patience, solitude, and service. But while the company creates a compelling stage world, they have only a sketchy story to tell. The hour-plus first act is largely exposition, and the second is mostly crisis with minimal consequence. This much talent deserves meatier material."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Director Elise Kauzlaric has assembled a dream-team cast of character actresses, led by the alluring Brenda Barrie, whose performance here, as in the recent Beauty On The Vine, conveys just the right proportions of youthful vulnerability and sly calculation to keep us undecided as to the source of Mariette's self-sacrificing (or self-serving) zeal."
Chicago Free Press - Highly Recommended
"...Director Elise Kauzlaric, an ace artistic team and an excellent ensemble plunge us into the self-contained world of the Sisters of the Crucifixion. Although their habits obscure much of the actresses’ physical individuality, the members of the ensemble all turn in top-notch work, etching distinct personalities despite their nearly identical wardrobes. This is very much an ensemble piece, but there’s no denying that the luminous Brenda Barrie dominates in the title role."
Copley News Service - Highly Recommended
"...The Lifeline’s master adapter Christine Calvit has re-created Ron Hansen’s 1991 novel for the intimate Lifeline stage, where it is receiving its world premiere. It would be no surprise if this play found a healthy afterlife in regional theaters across the country following its Lifeline run. The show might even gain acceptance in the tough-minded New York theater scene with the proper sensitive staging."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...Director Elise Kauzlaric’s mesmerizing vision is beautifully realized in part by virtue of Alan Donahue’s gracefully spare set and a strong, convincing cast. Standouts include the elegant Patrice Egleston (Reverend Mother Celine), game show-voiced Brian Perry (Pere Mariott), and the aforementioned Barrie."
Chicago Stage Review - Highly Recommended
"...Christina Calvit’s adaptation of Ron Hansen’s novel is fascinating from start to finish although with subject matter this incendiary, a cast this powerful and a production this remarkably realized, the dramatic build and climax are noticeably inconspicuous. Still, Mariette in Ecstasy is an intriguing examination of the fine line between devout faith and possible mental illness and a uniquely beguiling production that is not to be missed."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...The seamless collaboration among Hansen’s spare prose, Calvit’s adroit adaptation and Kauzlaric’s deft production (commendably stripped of any contemporaneity but flush with the sounds of the cloister—the rhythm of work and haunting refrains of chants) ponders the larger question of whether faith is fortified by community, tradition and structure, or by intensely personal experience. Mariette in Ecstasy loses some of its taut urgency as the story unfolds and sometimes borders on the melodramatic, but for a story centering on the ascetic life of nuns in cloister at the turn of the 20th century, its riches are plentiful."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...This is fine ensemble work that features nice performances from Patrice Egleston, Brian Parry, Morgan McCabe and Elizabeth Olson. This is an outstanding theatrical achievement that quite effectively unfolds as a mystery and a character portrait."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...This is a powerful production with a solid cast of players. Mariette is played by Brenda Barrie, who is strikingly beautiful and radiates the aura that supposedly has been cast upon her. Director Elise Kauzlaric uses the stage at Lifeline to the best advantage on a marvelous set by Alan Donahue. This is a small and intimate theater but they are able to make the scene change from one area to another with just moving one piece that serves as a bed, a bench, a hospital bed and by the movement of the actors."
