A Christmas Carl presented by Chicago dell’Arte at RBP Rorschack

Centerstage - Recommended

"...While the show’s comic tone is not always congruous, (it veers a bit too often between dryly observational and ridiculous) it still extracts big, warm, happy laughs and definitely qualifies as what I believe is known in the local Texas parlance as “a hoot”."

Chicago Theater Beat - Somewhat Recommended

"...What saves A Christmas Carl from Christmas death is the triple-espresso shot of perversity in Kirby’s performance. In fact, Fred steals the show. He becomes the center to A Christmas Carl more than Carl, a terribly interesting wrinkle if this play is, indeed, a Christmas story wrought from the heart of Texas. Clearly, then, Cleburne is not exactly Sarah Palin country or, at least, it is not an America that Sarah Palin prefers to portray. Rather, it’s an America that belongs to the freaks. Even the couples’ exercises enacted by Bob and his wife Emily (Holly Portman) take a charmingly flaky detour from the main action and create a playful space in which only their childlike resolutions matter. That development alone has got to be tidings of comfort and joy to some out there."