Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...The only cast member who really makes you feel like something worthy is at stake here is Stephen Walker, playing one of those pretentious older actors who cannot help but try to rewrite the play, and direct it, too. Washburn gave this character all the best lines - I suspect she well knows, and often has despised his type. And Walker does not let the script down, painting what really is an actor's nightmare - becoming an experienced craftsperson who still craves the danger of fringe theater but finds himself a dinosaur, despised not the least for what he has to offer."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...The Theater Wit production (subtly "customized" by Washburn to infuse it with a Chicago theater quality), has been directed by Jeremy Wechsler. And he certainly has nailed the atmosphere, with both his cast and real-life crew doing a yeoman's job at suggesting the delicate egos, quirks and snacking habits of all those involved, as well as the countless little details involving the perfecting of set-changes, the placement of props, the fit of costumes, and the countless artistic adjustments desired by both the director and actors."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The play charts the course of a single day of tech rehearsal for a new, unnamed play at Theater Wit. (The title refers to the standard working schedule for such rehearsals under Actors Equity contracts: 10 hours out of a 12-hour stretch.) As anyone who’s ever worked in the theater can tell you, technical rehearsals are as mind-numbingly tedious as they are absolutely essential. True to course, the play eschews traditional rhythms and instead settles into the unique surreality of the process."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Kudos to Theater Wit for successfully mounting the most technically extravagant piece of design work seen on a Chicago storefront stage ever. You'll experience simultaneously exactingly real-to-life and riotously funny play that makes the tech rehearsal experience come to life. Director Jeremy Wechsler told me that they actually had only four weeks of rehearsal. Amazing! 10 out of 12 is, indeed, a love song to eccentricities and craftsmanship needed to produce the art of theatre. Serous theatre patrons and those wanting to get involved with theatre need to see this near-perfect recreation of a tech rehearsal."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...I don't know if you'll like 10 out of 12, the new inside-theater play at Theater Wit. But I did. If you love theater and see a lot of it, you'll enjoy seeing how the theater sausage is made in this look at the excruciating tedium of a tech rehearsal. This is the rehearsal near the end of the production process when the cast and crew go through the play to integrate all the elements: lights, sound, costumes, props, scenery."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...As you take your seat you first have to grab the earphones that are perched there to help you listen in on the tech staff chat. For Chicago theater fans it is great fun to hear our stages' rock stars be the tech voices: Steppenwolf's Martha Lavey as the lighting designer; Steppenwolf's John Mahoney as a backstage crew person with an appetite; Peter Sagal of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me as the sound designer; and Barbara Robertson of Chicago Shakespeare among others as the costume designer who gets to weigh in on whether the female actresses need bigger boobs. These are pre-recorded voices with whom the on-stage live actors interact from time to time, most notably Dado in the part of the stage manager."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...The “story” of the play is the process and it is a dull one, if at least in part intentionally. As a passive participant, the steady waves of boredom that wash over you are likely intended as recreation of the boredom felt by those actually involved in a tech rehearsal: waiting backstage while lights are tweaked or a costume altered. And yet, without the option to whip out a phone or chat with the person next to you, the production obliges the audience to play by the rules of conventional theater even while it, at nearly every juncture, breaks them with relish. In it’s obsession with pushing its concept, “10 Out of 12” neglects character and plot at the detriment of experience for anyone who might’ve needed convincing that the story on stage was one worth telling.
