The Time of Your Life Reviews
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
"...It's extraordinarily contemporary-feeling writing that sets up and then usurps expectations, a quality director Kathy Scambiatterra capitalizes on in this musical, champagne-lit production for the Artistic Home. Even the play's most melodramatic flourishes are stylized and made authentic; across the 22-person ensemble, it's a stunning achievement and a revival in the truest sense."
Gapers Block- Highly Recommended
"...A shoutout goes to director Kathy Scambiatterra, producer Kristin Collins, scenic designer Kevin Hagan and lighting designer Claire Sangster for a masterful production. The actors also deserve a standing ovation especially Kathryn Acosta as the emotionally disturbed "streetwalker" Kitty, Julian Hester's stand-out performance as love-struck Dudley R. Bostwick and Frank Nall entrancing us as Kit Carson. Finally, Scott Westerman delivered an outstanding performance as Joe."
ChicagoCritic- Highly Recommended
"...Though The Artistic Home has a small space on Grand Avenue, they're not afraid to fill it up with a massive ensemble for a show that's worthy of the effort. William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940, resembles later plays like The Iceman Cometh and Balm in Gilead in that it depicts odd characters from the margins of society meeting in a bar that's shady enough to feel safe to them. But while Eugene O'Neill and Lanford Wilson apparently regarded their characters as pitiful or tragic, Saroyan had a hopeful outlook that infused humor into his observations on the denizens of his San Francisco dive. At The Artistic Home, twenty-two actors working with director Kathy Scambiattera shape a world where people have suffered for a long time, but have stubbornly cling to life and a better future."
Chicago Stage and Screen- Recommended
"...William Saroyan's Pulitzer Prize winning opus The Time of Your Life is having a moment this summer in Chicago. After an independent staged reading of the work produced by The Chicago Inclusion Project in June, The Artistic Home has opened its staging in the confines of 1376 W Grand Avenue. Saroyan's masterwork is no easy feat, but director Kathy Scambiattera manages to forge a cohesive, moving ensemble of 22 actors. We easily believe the majority of the finely wrought lives that emerge onstage, even if the final revelations of the production are not as clearly shaped or defined."
The Fourth Walsh- Highly Recommended
"...THIS IS THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE is a perfect combination of hope and despair, dreams and realism, drama and comedy. And some of the best comedy is delivered by an outstanding Frank Nall. He plays an old coot spinning big yarns of hilarity. His ongoing storytelling cadence sets up his last tale for pure comedy gold."