Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...Rivera's script packs a lot into 80 minutes. Ani (Kate Brown), the seemingly sane one in the trio, carries ancestral memories of the Armenian genocide (her name comes from an abandoned Armenian city), as well as anguish from a failed love affair that isn't what it seems at first. Rosemary (Amanda Powell) gives Sybil a run for her money in the multiple-personalities department — residual damage from sexual abuse. And Mayannah, whose house is packed with lurid images of the Crucifixion, is wracked with survivor's guilt from her own childhood losses."
Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...For reasons kept unnecessarily obscure, Puerto Rican heiress Mayannah pays two strangers, Rosemary and Ani, to attend her annual feast commemorating the deaths of her parents. Amanda Powell successfully navigates a difficult assignment as delusional Rosemary, playing a split personality without overacting. The other performances in Urban Theater Company's Chicago premiere proceed more fitfully, Marilyn Camacho's Mayannah and Kate Brown's Ani exhibiting an only halting chemistry. Though it never lacks intensity, Rivera's story feels muddled. It's feverish but never warm."
Windy City Times
- Highly Recommended
"...Jorge Félix's sepulchral scenic ambience doesn't include olfactory intoxicants ( e.g. incense ) , but even so, playgoers may find themselves descending into a trance-like focus engendered by Rivera's mystical sensory-rich imagery—particularly as declaimed with seductive solemnity by Marilyn Camacho, Kate Brown and Amanda Powell playing, respectively, the charismatic Mayannah, spartan Ani and volatile Rosemary. Under Marti Lyons' direction, the action proceeds at a measured pace belying its brief 80-minute running time to cast a hypnotic spell leading us on an intricate journey through the dark corners of the human soul."
Chicago Stage Review
- Highly Recommended
"...With relatively meager resources, UrbanTheater Company transforms the intimate venue of the Batey Urbano into a dramatic hallucination of extraordinary proportions and a destination for theatrical excellence. DO NOT MISS this seductively staggering and fantastically freakish dark delight."
Time Out Chicago
- Recommended
"...
Despite a bizarre premise and an underdeveloped dystopian element, Rivera manages to weave a fascinating, time-bending tale that’s at once unsettling, elegiac and darkly funny (when Mayannah appears with a platter of mystery meat, deadpan Ani says, “If she’s serving us people, I’m not staying”). In her smart and seductive staging, Lyons emphasizes the script’s ominous qualities while striking a compelling balance between the surreal and the real."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...Director Marti Lyons navigates her three characters brilliantly through their foibles, their demons and their transformations that quickly engages us and holds the dramatic tension throughout the hour and twenty minutes. This play will make you laugh and scare the hell out of you as it entices you into the wacky world of three desperate folks. The result is one of the finest acted shows I’ve seen this year. Brianpeople is a macabre work that will rattle you beliefs as it celebrates the depths of psychosis. Powerful acting and terrific storytelling fuel this “must see” play."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...Jorge Feliz has transformed this store into a wonderful high-rise apartment, somewhere in Los Angeles in a time yet to come. The set is wonderful and makes you forget that you re just off the busy Division Street. Rivera’s story is about a wealthy woman (Marilyn Camacho plays this woman with great power) who invites two strangers to her apartment for what we learn is a special dinner to commemorate the death of her parents. Each year, on this date, Mayannah has done this but neither the two women who have been paid to attend or the audience realizes what her reasons are until much later into the story."
Chicago Theater Beat
- Highly Recommended
"...The UTC production is the Chicago premiere of BRAINPEOPLE. It is that rare meeting of cast, direction, and location that produces a transporting experience. UTC was formed to bring cutting edge experiences to the theater through diversity and roots in the Latino community and they hit a bull’s eye with BRAINPEOPLE. UTC founders Ivan Vega, Madrid St. Angelo and Marilyn Camacho have something truly special to offer to the theater community of Chicago. Go see this show!"
