Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Villa, who has explored his own family's dark criminal history in his solo "Empanada for a Dream," smoothly segues into playing a middle-aged man of reserve and half-buried resentments. But Torrez is the whirling storm at the center of this story, and what he kicks up on Brian Sidney Bembridge's rough-planked set leaves a grim taste in the mouth."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...If you inhabit the unaccountable world of William Mastrosimone's untenable play, your primary objective would be improving the kid's manners. Even without the near incessant implausibilities—a multiply traumatized, conscience-free ghetto stereotype needs attention, tough love, and above all classical literature to reform himself—Mastrosimone's condescending assumptions about bourgeois culture's civilizing force are laughable. Director Ron OJ Parson's everything-on-the-surface production for Teatro Vista amplifies the script's numerous flaws."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...So does Hector abandon his feral imperative or has he been flimflamming his idealistic hosts all along? Since director Ron OJ Parson's target audience is school groups, his hopes are pinned on our declaring Ty's experiment a success, but the number of rewrites imposed on Mastrosimone's script, while making for a satisfying emotional catharsis, render its denouement as abrupt as it is ambivalent. What is certain, however, is that the cast assembled for this Teatro Vista production delivers intense performances steeped in conviction to command the attention of playgoers willing to temporarily suspend their cynicism."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Teatro Vista's production of William Mastrosimone's 1985 play, which he revised this year, shows that the playwright has an eye for the vast gulfs between classes and the different rules of survival we follow, though the story itself changes little and risks even less."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Tamer of Horses is a wonderful journey as the criminal world of violent youth confronts two souls as the only folks who ever cares for the thug. Is having someone who cares for you enough to straighten out a floundering youth? Tamer of Horses leaves audiences wondering but with a glimmer of hope. Don’t miss this play! Torrez and Villa are sensational."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...Tamer of Horses by William Mastrosimone is about education, human nature, redemption and the limits of second chances. It is at times messy, seemingly unsure about what it wants to say about these topics. But the three-person cast commits fully to the play and manages to turn the shortcomings, as far as possible, into a compelling dialogue."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Teatro Vista, the Vanguard of Latino theater in the United States is firmly committed to sharing and celebrating the riches of Latino culture with Chicago theater audiences and schools alike. They have been doing this for many years and now with their new home at The Victory Gardens Biograph Theatrer, upstairs in the Richard Christiansen Theater, they are able to bring the intimacy of their work to their followers; both Latino and others/ Their latest production, William Mastrosimone’s “Tamer of Horses”, slickly directed by Ron OJ Parson, is an amazing tale of the teacher and his student and how each learns from the others."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...“Tamer” is not a perfect play – Torrez’s youthful posturing and slang can grow tiresome on occasion, and the ending is a bit too abrupt given how careful Villa, Sanchez, and Torrez develop their characters – but in the hands of Parsons, it is undoubtedly a sincere one that speaks to our times, and that is something that must be commended."
