Ten Square
MPAACT at Truman College- O'Rourke Theatre

Chicago Tribune- Somewhat Recommended

"...Many lines of dialogue disappear to the ceiling and, although there are some interesting individual performances from the likes of Earl Alphonso Fox and Nambi E. Kelley, there are far too many gaps between scenes and pacing that is consistently inconsistent. The show has passion but needs an editor — not to mention a smaller space and a much clear sense of its own intent."
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Chris Jones

Chicago Sun Times- Not Recommended

"...the fact that you must either consult program notes to discover the essence of the story at hand or endure a solid 45 minutes of largely inaudible dialogue as the play's first act unfolds is simply more of a wall than the one built to separate the black and white inhabitants of Aakhu's vaguely futuristic Chicago. Not only does this play need serious tightening and clarification, but also Mignon McPherson Nance needs to realize that the most essential job of a director is to make sure the actors (and by extension the playwright) are being heard."
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Hedy Weiss

Time Out Chicago- Somewhat Recommended

"...The design elements take a cue from the script’s uncompromising politics. Jessica Kuehnau creates an imposing fortress-wall set and a desert floor with literal sand, in which literal lines are drawn. The sound design, by Aakhu and Theodore Berry, is often intrusive, but effective during violent gunshots and screaming. For all the production’s missteps, Ten Square is ambitious as hell and deserves to be seen and discussed. It feels truly dangerous, and how many plays can claim that?"
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Caitlin Montanye Parrish

Chicago Reader- Somewhat Recommended

"...In the not-too-distant future, thanks to the reparations movement, the federal government has ceded Chicago south of Roosevelt Road to African Americans, granting them self-governance. It's a fascinating premise, but if playwright Shepsu Aakhu wants to salvage his ponderous, ineffective new play--offered here in a Pegasus Players/MPAACT coproduction--he'll first have to explain how Chicago's south side got to be a walled-in penal colony with black guards who gun down anyone coming within 100 yards of the perimeter."
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Justin Hayford

Chicago Free Press- Not Recommended

"...What follows is a puzzling muddle of justified paranoia, irrelevant conversations and an inconclusive payoff. Despite the poetry of the dialogue, this is an exasperatingly confused drama where persuasive performances by Mignon McPherson Nance’s accomplished cast make the lack of focus and half-baked explanations more deplorable. How did this blighted Ten Square emerge from the payment of reparations? There’s a major hole in the backstory of this problem play because we don’t know the reason this world happened in the first place. Lacking this vital information, everything else seems irrelevant and moot."
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Lawrence Bommer

ChicagoCritic- Not Recommended

"...Ten Square needs to be rethought and trimmed into a more focused original story. As it now plays, too much is unexplained and too much dialogue is unintelligible rendering the work as a muddled contrivance."
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Tom Williams

Steadstyle Chicago- Recommended

"...This World Premiere collaboration by Pegasus Players and MPAACT is anything but a hopeful or optimistic view of race relations in America. It is dark, cynical and over written, however Shepsu Aaakhus is still a writer who demands to be heard. And even as the first act lacks a driving point, the second act makes amends with some powerful moments and provocative writing. Much of the language, as we are promised from the start, is salty street vernacular, but given the helplessness of the play's central turmoil understandable. It is a frightening prediction of where our country could go with at least a nod to where we have already been."
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Joe Stead