Chicago Sun Times - Recommended

"...Ken Prestininzi's intriguing play, "Chaste," now in its world premiere at Trap Door Theatre, captures the insanity, pain -- and yes, the uttercomic madness, too -- that is endured by all these characters as a very young and intellectually precocious Salome (Sarah Tolan Mee), attempts to establish a "marriage of minds and souls" (the bodies follow, of course) among herself, Nietzsche (Antonio Brunetti) and Ree (John Kahara). The ever-hovering sibling Elisabeth (Tiffany Joy Ross) does not approve."
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Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"... Stylistic gambles such as a dream sequence that mashes up fairy tales, verse and violence work thanks to Hendrickson’s gutsy direction, which keeps the comedy a step below manic. The overlong second act, however, offers an unnecessarily ample epilogue to the trinity’s disintegration, sacrificing some of the play’s dark energy in an attempt to shade its characters with more human strokes. Everything about this production is better when refusing to compromise."
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Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...As in his previous Trap Door premieres, AmeriKafka and Beholder, Prestininzi fractures his plot as much as his characters, yet for the first time he builds a clear arc nearly to the finish (things peter out in his final scene). Hendrickson, with the aid of a nimble, exuberant cast, builds that arc with manic precision."
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NewCity Chicago - Not Recommended

"...At the end of the nineteenth century, three hyper-intellectuals—Nietzsche, Lou Salome and Paul Ree—planned to live together in chastity in service of their philosophical work. Ken Prestininzi’s play attempts, Stoppard-like, to imagine this hypothetical plan, but cast as a slapstick farce of a frustrated love triangle. Sadly, the play isn’t smart enough to elevate the histrionics of the production, which includes, for example, a scene of Nietzsche masturbating into a shoe assisted by Ree, and Ree prancing around in Salome’s dress."
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Chicago Stage Review - Highly Recommended

"...All four actors are beyond splendid. Antonio Brunetti plays Friedrich Nietzsche like a man continuously coming down off of a crystal meth tweak. Sarah Tolan Mee imbues Lulu Salome with the intellect, charm, cunning, and beauty necessary to be a woman who bewitched not only Ree and Nietzsche, but Rilke and Freud as well. John Kahara is subtle and bawdy and conflicted and sure as Paul Ree. Tiffany Joy Ross plays Nietzsche’s sister Elisabeth with a sternly reverential mix of governess and acolyte."
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ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...This is by no means a weak play in terms of acting, direction, or writing, but there is something left to be desired in the second act.  Perhaps if I was better versed in the work of Nietzsche it would have rung more true or had a greater impact.  As folks who have read some of my reviews have garnered, I am not always the biggest fan of avant garde theatre.  That being said, in terms of avant garde shows I have seen this is one of the finest because it has a lot of entertainment value, especially at the beginning.  Even though I was not a fan of the second act, this is a show worth taking a look at solely for the first act and poetic dialogue of Mr. Prestininzi.  There may also be a good chance if you are more versed in the work and life of Nietzsche then you will get more out of it than I did."
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Chicago Theater Blog - Highly Recommended

"...Chaste is a clever and often funny example of dramatic historical fiction. It is also probably the closest we’ll ever get to a 19th-century season of “Real World”. But contemporary television references aside, the lunacy that love inspires within these three lunatics, as told by a talented writer through a talented cast, makes for a four-star play."
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