Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...Plays written about teenagers are not easy to pull off with authenticity and without condescension. But “Adolescent Salvation” builds its dramatic action slowly and cautiously, pulling you into the world of its central character, Bailey’s Natasha. Essentially, the audience is a fly on the wall during a sleepover Natasha is hosting for besties Taylor (Jordan Levene) and Taylor (Brandon Acosta). One is a girl, the other the pair’s self-described gay best friend with the same name."
Chicago Sun Times
- Recommended
"...“Adolescent Salvation” is making its Chicago premiere at Theater Wit. The production, which started in Los Angeles, makes its way to the Midwest along with the original director, Guillermo Cienfuegos. Venable and Cienfuegos have found the sweet spot of capturing the full Gen Z aesthetic without falling into the trap of cringy generalizations or the overuse of internet slang."
Chicago Reader
- Recommended
"...Theater Wit’s 90-minute production is sharp, smart, and often undeniably hilarious. Mostly. It also uses profound grief as a reason/excuse/impetus for being a child rapist. Despite the intense, adroit performances director Guillermo Cienfuegos gets from his ensemble, the play’s top notes of sardonic insight, biting humor, and gasp-inducing drama can’t conceal a vile aftertaste."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...Adolescent Salvation unfolds over a single night in Natasha's bedroom. Natasha (Piper Jean Bailey), the fifteen-year-old daughter of divorced parents, has been forced into a sleepover situation with Taylor (Jordan Levene). Their mothers want a drunken night out on the town, and the teens have been asked to keep each other company. The sophisticated, hip, and fashionable Taylor is resentful and has brought along her best friend, a gay classmate also named Taylor (Brandon Acosta), to keep her company. For ease of comprehension, I'll refer to them as Taylor(F) and Taylor(M), respectively."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...Theater Wit’s mission is to present “smart art” in Chicago by offering excellence in plays that are humorous, challenging and intelligent. This Chicago premiere, by brilliant playwright Tim Venable, speaks with a contemporary voice and picks at the facade around a teenager’s innocence, need and vulnerability. Theatergoers need to be warned that, while this is an excellent production of a most thought-provoking play, it’s a very adult drama. The play begins with humor and unexpected laughs, but ends in horror, a loss of innocence for several of the characters and totally smells like teen spirit. But it’s an experience not to be missed."
Third Coast Review
- Recommended
"...Theater Wit’s production of Adolescent Salvation is set in Natasha’s bedroom, cluttered with the detritus of female teenhood. Three teens are sprawled in various places around the room, entranced by their phones. Playwright Tim Venable brings us a moment in the life of these teens, a time laced with laughter, some tears and tragedy. The play begins in a lighthearted way and, before you notice, moves into heartache. It's troubling and sometimes hard to watch."
PicksInSix
- Recommended
"...To enter Theater Wit's production of "Adolescent Salvation," I have to push through the clothes hanging in a teenage girl's closet. Upon entering, I am immediately transported to the bedroom of every quirky rich girl I knew growing up. The walls are covered in posters and tapestries, color-changing lamps perch on various surfaces and a turquoise record player stands out amongst the knickknacks. Blasting songs like "Ignorance" by Paramore and "Not Strong Enough" by boygenius only enhance the teenage girl-dom of it all. Tying the space together are the fairy lights grandly draped from the high white rafters. Scenic designer Jonathan Berg-Einhorn has knocked it out of the park, immersing the audience in the show by making them part of the walls."
Curtain Call Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...Stepping into the theater space for Adolescent Salvation is like walking into a familiar teenager’s bedroom adorned with posters, pillows and the typical mess one might expect to find in such a bedroom; what one doesn’t see is what is about to unfold in Tim Venable's Adolescent Salvation’s surprising, disturbing and captivating play."
BroadwayWorld
- Recommended
"...No one can deny the teenage years are some of the most transformative, influential and insane times in human life. In the Chicago Premiere of Adolescent Salvation at Theater Wit, the play creates this experience to the most absurd turning point. Playwright Tim Venable and director Guillermo Cienfuegos bring the play to Windy City after its success at the Rogue Machine Theatre’s 2025 production in Los Angeles, CA."
NewCity Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...In a post-"Euphoria" landscape, any adult writing about teens has to take pains to present their characters credibly. Los Angeles playwright Tim Venable's "Adolescent Salvation" is a high water mark in this respect, loaded with fleshed-out characters and shocking surprises. Theater Wit's Chicago premiere production, directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos, is electrifying theater anchored by a virtuosic cast."
