Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended

"...But the slow pace and wrought pictures only work when you have a surer imaginative world than the one on display here. This is a play with many crises, but it also needs some therapy of its own. It's brand new. There is no shame there."
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Chicago Sun Times - Not Recommended

"...The problem is not in the basic premises of Johnson's oddly erratic drama, directed by Sandy Shinner (who did such a terrific job with this writer's superb earlier work "Four Places"). In fact, he has devised a number of intriguing crises for the upper-middle-class Glencoe family at the center of his story. But "devised" is the operative word here. Very little about Johnson's play feels truly organic, and every relationship it charts seems carefully crafted to serve a purpose."
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Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"... But much of this Guide ends up merely perplexing, as Johnson spins out enough competing plot points to fuel a trilogy. Doug’s troubled relationship with his mother; his tormented, gay genius nephew’s struggles with bullying at school; Phillip’s failing marriage: All get touched upon but never fully explored. Instead, Doug’s attention, and the play’s, drifts from scene to scene. The impression of scattered focus is only heightened by Jeffrey Bauer’s ungainly rotisserie-stage design, rotating the actors back and forth from den to porch. Though Guide’s revelations don’t achieve their intended searing impact, the insistent sympathy with which Johnson probes his characters’ remoteness suggests a powerful work yet to be fully found."
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NewCity Chicago - Recommended

"...The piece’s mood shifts can be tough to keep a handle on; both Doug and Philip act out without pattern. But Guinan and Anderson make up for it with killer rapport and razor-sharp timing; a simple bed-making scene is heartbreakingly hilarious. Bubba Weiler holds his own as the “lying, manic-depressive” son trapped in his own cruel adolescent reality; Sandy Shinner’s direction keeps the pacing and the physicality in check as the characters seek relief from their burdens and the seemingly unobtainable vision of their futures."
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Copley News Service - Somewhat Recommended

"...The play rolls along, funny when it should be serious and implausible when it should be believable. The story has no narrative arc and the ending leaves the spectators muttering “Huh?” under their breath."

Talkin Broadway - Somewhat Recommended

"...This all feels very much like a first draft. Johnson has plenty of good ideas and the beginnings of some funny and sympathetic characters (there are a decent number of good laughs throughout). If he can refine this all into a more coherent and linear story, and help us form a clear point of view toward Doug, this could be a very stageworthy play."
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ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...Johnson’s action leads to a plausible tragic ending for Doug and Andrew as each speak to their constant thought of suicide but Johnson copes out with a made-for-TV ending that left me puzzled. This play sure has potential to be powerful theatrical experience but with too many unanswered and unresolved situations, A Guide For the Perplexed merely comes across as an actor’s vehicle to showcase their talents playing unique characters. This work is underwritten leaving us unsatisfied. However, the expert acting by Anderson, Guinan and Weiler carries us to a worthy evening of theatre. There is enough here to make the trip to the Biograph Theater worth it."
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Steadstyle Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...The title is based on the Jewish writer Maimonides’ counsel to open the soul up so it feels empathy with others. That’s advice that this play can only pretend to adopt. But Sandy Shinner’s staging only offers us an unprocessed inventory of one clan’s recriminations and belittlement. Family members can be hurtful and hateful, Johnson declares, a truth I believe in Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neill but not from this mutual detestation society."
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Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"..Redemption! How does one redeem themselves for their past history? Can one be rehabilitated by serving time in a prison or an institution? These are questions that have been pondered for many years and while many films and plays have been written covering this topic, none has hit the mark for me over the years until viewing Joel Drake Johnson’s “A Guide For The Perplexed”, now in its World Premiere at the Victory Gardens Theater. We all have guilt in our lives- some due to family situations, some through the path we chose to take in our lives and how in many cases pushed others aside in order to propel ourselves forward in our career or just in general."
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