Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...In one recurring motif, the characters stand in a central spotlight while they change outfits for the next scene, suggesting that the private core of who they are has been subsumed by the contrived surfaces we require of politicians, as well as their own unacknowledged personal machinations. By the end, Smith's would-be emperor has been stripped bare of everything - except a last shot at honest redemption."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...David Lawrence Hamilton, “The Firestorm” boldly exposes the two central hypocrisies of race in today’s climate: first, that any honest dialogue on race relations is impossible amidst our ceaseless, poll-driven election cycles; and second, that underlining those cycles is a general ignorance among White America on the realities of what African Americans, no matter their socioeconomic status, face on a daily basis; the problem today is not segregated water fountains, but the cluelessness to how casual racism – not matter how implicit or mob driven – can paint the contours of one’s life in ways the violating party never anticipated. We need plays like “The Firestorm” to bring those differences to the surface."
Edge - Recommended
"..."The Firestorm," led by director Drew Martin, is an intriguing look at how the personal and the political intermesh in modern times, and how powerful an issue race relations remain, even decades after the Civil Rights Act and into the final days of the presidency of an African-American. With such a strong premise, cemented by solid acting and an unexpected ending, "The Firestorm" is definitely worth its ticket price."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...It's hard not to think of all the Underwoods or Popes or Blagojeviches or Clintons that exist in fictional and real worlds while watching a political drama like this. Those sometimes jovial, mostly serious characters live in an atmosphere of tension. Vance Smith's broad-stroke affability and Kanome Jones's near-robotic certitude make it hard to imagine Patrick and Gabby as ever having made it out of bush league primaries. They're victims of Drew Martin's tone-deaf production, which, though capably staged, lacks gravity. A marriage and a political career become engulfed in a firestorm of racial tension-and it all comes across as just another bad day at the office."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...It's usually a criticism to refer to the "race card" (a strategy for distraction or muddying the waters). Not with Friedman. It's the source and soul of this scandal. Bigotry is nothing if not adept at camouflage-but you can also imagine it when the real cause is untested ignorance, the phony innocence of youth. The Firestorm asks its audience either to make judgments or allowances for Patrick and Gaby Henderson. Stage Left's four performers are potent enough to make this measurement matter. We're all on the spot as the stage lights fade"
ChicagoCritic - Somewhat Recommended
"...In Meredith Friedman’s new play The Firestorm, which Stage Left Theatre is presenting as part of a National New Play Network rolling world premiere, the author examines what happens when a long-kept secret of something that is terrible, but anomalous, in a politician’s past suddenly emerges. It’s an interesting idea for a play, and Friedman builds some good scenes from it. But it still feels underwritten, and Drew Martin’s direction drags out the play’s weakest moments."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...In a time where racial tensions continue to grow with each viral clip or photo that appears, Friedman’s script not only provides an open conversation, but in the final scene as experiences are told and choices are made, she might very well have the answer of how healing can begin for us all."
