Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...At the performance I saw, the empathetic Tejero was often riveting and always searingly truthful. Sure, certain sections of this monster part were less secure, less finished than others, but this performance only will grow. In this Mount Rushmore of an assignment, Tejero is warmly supported by Adithi Chandrashekar, who plays the nurse and the only true human at this unnamed hospital, and also by Eduardo Xavier Curley-Carrillo, who plays a well-meaning fellow whose human skills lag his scientific training. Even though he studied Donne."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Edson's play - the only one this now 55-year-old elementary school teacher (and scholar) has penned to date - is brutally honest, wonderfully literate and, of course, often painfully difficult to watch. But perhaps that is all the more reason to see this production. Directed by Marti Lyons, it features a whip-smart, ultimately crushing performance by Lisa Tejero in a work that comes with all the demands of a solo turn, even though the play also features some crucial supporting characters who have been ideally cast with the same multi-ethnic cross-section now evident in every big-city hospital."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Likewise, Lisa Tejero delivers a virtuosic performance as Bearing, a perfect balance of razor-sharp intellect and expanding heart—watching her fight for a life she had not hitherto fully experienced is both devastating and redemptive."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...How can we not support a theater company that produces such beautiful work? “Wit” demands to be seen, and The Hypocrites deserves such support."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...In Bearing's uncertain world, her only constants aside from the routine of her aggressive eight-treatment regimen are her love of poetry and the connections she forms with hospital staff. One connection in particular-with a nurse named Susie-proves especially fruitful. Susie, played with genuine warmth by Adithi Chandrashekar, and Vivian share several quiet moments together, some of the play's most touching, in fact. Lyons smartly trusts her cast to subtly play such scenes for maximum impact. A scene late in the play with an orange Popsicle is particularly affecting in its simplicity, as is the dramatic shift from monologue to silence as Vivian's condition worsens. While Lyons' production does feature a glimmer of hope as it ends, the headiness and weight of the play's subject matter somewhat cloud the abrupt nature of this final moment."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...Margaret Edson's drama, WIT, is meant to make us feel the effects of stage four ovarian cancer as lead character Vivian Bearing is experiencing it. It's not a survival story, but one that allows us to gain empathy for those going through this hardship."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Director Marti Lyons is afraid of neither simplicity nor bold action and deploys both with profound intuition. One of the city's most talented freelancers, Lyons is especially gifted at locating humor in tragedy and vice versa, drawing complex performances from her actors, an essential quality for this play, which jumps between wry wit and devastating pathos."
