Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...Co-directed by Jonathan Green and Megan A. Smith, this Sideshow Theatre Company production is classy and visually provocative (the choreographer Katie Spelman has created some stylized movement). It just has a few mannered performances and pulls its punches when it comes to the viscerality of the central theme. This is Chicago. You want the gloves to come off and souls to be bared. Given the strikingly attractive cast — Dylan Stuckey, who plays the mysterious Mr. Asher, could be an angel of death on cable television — this is a play in touch with the power of beauty. One just wishes for a closer relationship with the truth."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...All these things and more are ingredients in Kathleen Akerley's dense, demanding, strangely compelling, sometimes irritating, overly long and intriguingly strange play -- an alternately poetic and earthy, and highly stylized drama that was first produced in Washington, D.C., in 2008, and is now receiving its Midwest premiere in a Sideshow Theatre Company production at Theater Wit. And while easily could test the patience of many, it also will cast its offbeat spell on those willing to go along on Akerley's surreal journey."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...Both the script and this Sideshow Theatre Company production play it coy in the first act, but things pick up considerably once the secret of what ails Elizabeth is out. Andy Luther's Williams steals the show with his mournful one-liners, and Akerley demonstrates admirable skill in shifting the tone from angst to absurdity."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Christopher M. LaPorte's baroque incidental music, Katie Spelman's dainty choreography, Jordan Kardasz's translucent lighting of Eric Luchen's Turneresque scenery together invoke spectacle reflecting their universe's mood, easing slightly the labors of a cast featuring Scottie Caldwell as the forlorn damsel surrounded by her assemblage of protectors—among them, Matt Fletcher's brainy Stoppard, Michael Mercier's chivalrous playboy, Susie Griffith's loyal caregiver, Andrew Marikis' doting innkeeper, and Andy Luther's engagingly blasé Williams. Never has the specter of impending death met more formidable opposition than in this midwest premiere production."
Chicago Stage Review - Recommended
"...Akerley writes beautiful monologues, creates interesting characters, peppers the movement of the play with enchanting stories and sets up haunting possibilities. There are moments and passages that are breathtaking but ultimately the journey feels somewhat incomplete. Still, Sideshow Theatre Company’s intriguing production of Theories of the Sun has more than one moment of greatness. This is a play that is well worth your time and one that will linger with you long after you leave the theater."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Akerley’s subject, to perhaps oversimplify, is the necessity of death in appreciating life, and she approaches it with compassion and wit. The presence of Williams (a wry Andy Luther) and Stoppard (sharp, joshing Matt Fletcher) sets an appropriate tone for the proceedings, in which time proves mutable and reality filtered through gauze. The relationship between Elizabeth (Scottie Caldwell) and Barbara (Susie Griffith) initially recalls the mother and daughter of The Light in the Piazza, but the secret they share turns out to be something altogether otherworldly. Akerley’s poetics can veer into the oblique and not every puzzle will be solved, but directors Green and Smith handily break through the clouds, teasing out the heat and light at this fanciful play’s core."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Themes such as eternal life, aging, passion, death and the meaning of life itself are explored with fresh, innovative outlooks that will leave you questioning what it means to live our lives in time. Theories of the Sun is a masterwork that is a satisfying theatrical event. It is the best new work I’ve seen this year! Don’t miss it. Sideshow Theatre Company has raised the bar in storefront theatre."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...While this is very much an ensemble piece, and the ensemble performs beautifully together, I think special mention needs to be given to Andy Luther as the booze soaked Tennessee Williams. Playing someone as supremely famous as Tennessee Williams is an imposing task. The man only died a couple decades ago, so it's not like people have forgotten him. But Luther's performance is lovely and nuanced, and while he's funny as hell, there is an incredible amount of heart that goes into it all."
Chicago Theater Beat - Recommended
"...Playwright Kathleen Akerley has penned a life-and-death tale with eclectic characters. Although the mother-daughter storyline loses some of its luster from recently being Hollywood-ized, Akerley’s provides intrigue in her other character choices and surprising twists. Theories of the Sun is a thought-provoking, entertaining dance to the death. With the finale’s hindsight, you’ll want to relive it for Death’s subtle entrance."
