Windy City Times
- Recommended
"...The Rubicon Theatre Project deftly sidesteps their material's potential mawkishness, weighing artistic subjectivity against affected egocentricity with unjudgmental candor. Katie Schweiger's collage-like scenic design in the stark confines of Stage Left's black-box studio likewise walks the line between thematic illumination and parody. Meg Harkins makes a charmingly ingenuous mythologizer, while April Fletcher delivers a mature and irony-free performance as the object of her admiration, flanked by Heidi Katz, Billy Fenderson, Jessica Thigpen and Jeff Taylor playing an assortment of aesthetes and philistines immediately identifiable to their practicing real-life counterparts."
Centerstage
- Somewhat Recommended
"...In the end, "Becoming Ingrid" could have been written by Christine herself, an amateur fixated on writing as therapy, desperate to create something meaningful, but not skilled enough to know how."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...
Director Stires finds some lovely moments here, as when Christine cuts her hair near the end of Act I: In low light, Harkins fishes bobby-pinned extensions out of her hair and lets them fall. There are also some unexpected complications, such as Ingrid’s awful but pitiable boyfriend (Billy Fenderson) or the rift that Christine’s revulsion to physical intimacy creates in her marriage. Unfortunately, these ideas don’t get any traction. The haircut, presumably to make Christine look more like Ingrid, is never referenced, and her sexual antipathy is never explained and never develops into anything. Stires’s direction, generally sluggish and precious, fails to bring out the best in an uneven ensemble; while Heidi Katz is wickedly composed as the bitchy snob Sasha, she’s incomprehensible as the Scottish landlady."
ChicagoCritic
- Recommended
"...Becoming Ingrid is a funny, smart and most cleverly plotted work that smoothly unfolds on several levels. It is Christine’s story yet it is also Ingrid’s. The relationship between these two women sparks deep passions in both as each learn more than technique and inspiration from each other. This is a subtle, charming and uplifting work that deftly injects the influences from one’s muse. We see that collaboration can lead to mutual lessons for both the teacher and the student. Liza Lentini has a refreshing take on passion and the creative process."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Recommended
"...The playwright offers us a pair of female characters who are strong, assertive and believable. The other characters tend to disappear into the sidelines and the doubling of actors in supporting roles is a bit confusing. One also gets the sense that there is more in Christine's relationship with her husband Paul, her fear of intimacy and reluctance to be touched by him that is visited briefly but not quite fleshed out. Whatever attraction brought Christine and Paul together in the first place seems to have flickered out before the play has even begun, leaving Christine and her love of language as the focal point. Fortunately, the relationship between teacher and student, idol and fan and their mutual desires for creative passion and expression provide enough substance to keep us engaged."
Chicago Theater Beat
- Recommended
"...Meg Harkins, playing Christine, narrates Becoming Ingrid as if she is writing a story. Painstakingly choosing the right words throughout the play, Christine unknowingly transforms herself from damsel-in-distress to protagonist. Playwright Liza Lentini has crafted just the right words to make Becoming Ingrid a charming tale of transformation."
