Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...Playwright Megan Carney sketches out distinct characteristics for each woman (it's a sharp cast under the direction of Tara Mallen) and yet we don't really get to know them. Why is that? The show attempts to encompass so much that it becomes a general overview (qualities that make it quite a good candidate as an educational project designed for school tours) that it too often misses out on drilling down and becoming tied to any specific pungent experience."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Carney’s riveting group portrait of those who now comprise 15 percent of America’s military — directed with steel and heart by Tara Mallen — is the culmination of four years of research and development. And although it unspools in just 85 airtight minutes, the play not only compresses all the major issues faced by women who go to war (in this case they are serving in Iraq), but never shortchanges the reality of their lives before, while and after they see action."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...The cast make their characters engaging in ways that transcend conventional shorthand descriptions like "career officer" or "ghetto kid looking for a way out." Just watching them drill—marching meets hip-hop in Rivendell's tiny performance space—can leave you awestruck. So then what's my problem? My problem is just this: that, for all its honesty about the ugliness, danger, and inequity of military life (indeed, by means of that honesty), Women at War sentimentalizes its soldiers as citizen warriors who did the job they were called upon to do in the second Iraq war and therefore deserve a nation's thanks. The show never allows as how the job itself was specious, and only fleetingly acknowledges the gratuitous slaughter it entailed. Along with the all-volunteer army, eulogizing veterans has become a technique for selling America's wars. It's the love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin concept taken a step farther—to love the sinner, excuse the sin. If the United States had a system of universal service, there'd be no basis for judging those who serve. We'd all be in it together. But what we have now is basically a mercenary arrangement, and that makes judgment a duty. Women at War has a good heart; it wants to show compassion for women who've been to hell and back. But in doing so it slides past the question of their culpability."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Some playgoers may object to the omission of debate over, say, our government's responsibility in perpetuating wars, or the prevalence of male-on-male sexual assault. Carney's goal is not an agenda-driven call to arms, however, nor does it attempt to exploit its subculture in service of ill-conceived metaphors. This is not the "big picture," designed to provide a nicely orchestrated flag-waving ( and quickly forgotten ) cry, but a gallery of individual portraits as small as the revelations they render."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Many of the challenges and emotions explored are universal to veterans regardless of gender-and that's how Women at War hits hardest. To watch an all-female cast explore their service and sacrifices makes well-trodden ground feel completely new. The truth is, all our tropes and images of soldiers are built around men and seen through men's eyes. The production hammers through those images to incredible effect. Perhaps the most meaningful thing I can say is that it feels important: important to have this play, important to see the military life as a female experience. And like any great play, Women at War makes its point felt rather than understood."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Kudos to the cast: Rengin Altay, Mary Cross, Danielle Davis, Susan Gaspar, Brittani Aflandis Green, Cynthia Hines (an actual Army veteran of eleven years service), Krystel V. McNeil, Paula Ramirez and Charli Williams. The accuracy of military procedures, the proper uniforms and military language gave the production a startling authenticity . The cast marched and shouted cadence drills marvelously. Any veterans in the audience could easily relate. Women At War is an insightful and important work that needs to be seen. Its about time society deals with the plight of all service personal who protect us – especially the almost forgotten personal: the women."
