Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...Real-life husband-and-wife John Mossman and Kathy Scambiatterra imbue the Antrobus marriage with all the weary affection and jaundiced suspicions longtime couples carry in their bones. And though it's easy to categorize Wilder's view of women as Maggie's domestic virago vs. Sabina's scheming vixen, Scambiatterra explodes that view with a second-act speech in which she calls out her husband for his narrow views of female nature. "We're not what you're all told and what you think we are: we're ourselves. And if any man can find one of us, he'll learn why the whole universe was set in motion." The universe that Wilder set in motion in "The Skin of Our Teeth" occasionally feels overstuffed, but never insignificant."
Chicago Sun Times
- Highly Recommended
"...Like Cromer's highly heralded "Our Town," this take on "The Skin of Our Teeth" serves as a reminder of what a terrific, adventurous, often undervalued playwright Thornton Wilder happened to be. And like the current revival of Clifford Odets' "Awake and Sing!" at Northlight Theatre, the play -- a product of a tumultuous time in American history (the Great Depression and then World War II) -- it seems custom-made for this moment. Along with financial chaos and war, there is talk of global climate change, endangered species, the changing role of women, energy shortages, refugees and a sense that the great engine of American ingenuity might well have exhausted itself."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...Director Jeff Christian has sure-handedly guided a 12-member cast through drastic shifts in tone, from cartoonish freneticism to somber gravity, aided by designers Joseph Riley (set), Julian Pike (lights), Alyson Greaves (costumes), and Mikhail Fiksel and Miles Polaski (sound). The ensemble deftly negotiate what are in essence dual roles: they play both their characters and themselves—actors who gradually gain courage and strength by performing the play."
Windy City Times
- Recommended
"...Fortunately, director Jeff Christian is not buried by the play. He and the Artistic Home succeed admirably where many others have failed. First, Christian uses simple staging devices and the audience's imagination to create the play's shifting landscapes, climates and disasters so the need for special effects doesn't overwhelm the production. Next, Christian and cohorts strike just the right balance between farcical and satiric elements in acts I and II and the solemnity of Act III. Christian lets his actors be big where needed for comic effect, then pulls them back precisely on schedule. Finally, the production avoids any whiff of cynicism over Wilder's cautionary but optimistic elegy to the resilience and innate goodness of Mankind, based on the fundamental tenets of Judeo-Christian philosophy."
Time Out Chicago
- Recommended
"...Director Christian doesn’t quite strike the tone needed to make this tricky script viable, though there are moments (as in Stacie Doublin’s terrific monologue as a fortune teller). And Maria Stephens isn’t commanding enough as Sabina, rushing through her lines; she’s no match for Kathy Scambiatterra’s authoritative Maggie."
ChicagoCritic
- Highly Recommended
"...The ensemble work here is first-class and the real life husband and wife team of John Mossman and Kathy Scambiatterra anchor the work with their steadfast and truthful performances as the Antrobus parents. See this show and appreciate both Thornton Wilder’s provocative work and the Artistic Home’s high production values."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Recommended
"...The Artistic Home made a valiant effort to make this rarely produced play fresh and emotionally charged, but ultimately "The Skin of Our Teeth" is just plain dated and esoteric. A problem I had with the production is how heavily it weighed on audience participation, and I question how it would go over with an introverted or small house. So I question how much the casual theatre patron (with little to no knowledge of Thornton Wilder or this play) will appreciate this production. If you are in mood for something different, and very well acted, this play is worth a look."
