Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"..."Hoodoo Love" is a play with music, which often means some dude laying down a few guitar licks at the side of the stage. Not here. The musicality of this piece is spectacularly realized here in the bowels of the Athenaeum Theatre, with a deeply focused three-piece band, one of whom seemed so lost in the ambience of the show that you feared for his ability to snap out of it and face the rest of the day, and the formidable vocal services of lead singer Opal Demetria Staples."
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Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended

"...Henry Behel’s manually rotated set (with richly atmospheric lighting by Cat Wilson, and sound by Daniel Carylon) is perfect down to its screen door and worn iron bed. And all told, the production neatly suggests a world in which the church, the juke joint and a garden of superstitions coexist."
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Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"... Lurid melodrama eventually crowds out everything else in Katori Hall's 2007 play, overshadowing its best qualities—unpretentious lyricism and a feel for the power of pagan ritual. In this debut effort from Collective Theatre, director Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette Reynolds on HBO's True Blood) supplies some effective atmospherics, including a spooky lighting design by Cat Wilson, onstage musicians, and—during scene changes—the big-voiced groaning of singer Opal Demetria Staples, who acts as a kind of chorus."
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NewCity Chicago - Recommended

"... Hall’s scenes are emotionally giant, but Ellis has pushed the action very far upstage on Henry Behel’s two-house set to make room for the band. In a theater that condensed, seven feet can make all the difference to an audience’s connection or dismissal. “HooDoo Love” grasps the onlookers in its first act, but the distance becomes too pronounced in the second–the monstrous rage and jealousy removed of punch. Notably, a terrifying and serene scene that follows the grotesque Act One bedroom confrontation of Toulou and Jib is sharply reduced in potential power and sting as the would-be tension transforms into a lull. But Hall’s marvelous play manages to shine through despite these hurdles, guided by a cast fantastically willing to commit to her eccentricities and harsh spoken-word photography."
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Gapers Block - Highly Recommended

"...All of the actors go above and beyond the challenge of their respective characters and the subject matter, and Opal Demetria Staple's Lillie Mae winningly sings through the heartbreak of all of it. But it's Mark Smith's performance as Jib that delivers a scorpion's sting; he channels the evil-incarnate that is Jib and lays him bare; there are no pieces to pick up after an encounter with Jib. I found myself squirming and clutching for breath the moment he takes the stage. With Smith, you feel Jib's evil, long before he arrives, and long after he leaves. It is a performance to be seen, and rewarded."
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Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...Toulou’s troubles might be read as stand-ins for the larger struggles of African-American women defining themselves in relation to men; “bad men stay, good men go away,” Candy Lady tells her. Hall’s script contains snippets of original blues songs written for Toulou, but director Nelsan Ellis (known to HBO viewers as True Blood’s Lafayette) farms them out to another singer, the sultry Opal Demetria Staples, who steps to a downstage mic between every scene. The effect is distancing, seeming to stretch out a production that’s already languidly paced. Of the actors, only the sly Fountain appears to fully grasp the play’s deeper themes."
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Chicago Now - Recommended

"...From arrival, blues is always the showpiece of this production. Under the direction of Tim McNulty, a vivacious Opal Demetria Staples is outstanding. Accompanied by Leon Q. Allen (trumpeter), Giles Corey (guitarist) and Thomas Lowery (percussion), Staples echoes the stories‘ melodies with beautiful song-bursts. The ongoing musical interludes is a perfect illustration of how the blues goes from shanty victim to nightclub diva."
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