Birds Of North America at A Red Orchid Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"...As inviting theatrical titles go, “Birds of North America” is one only an ornithologist could love. But the new show at Red Orchid Theatre turns out to be a gorgeous little 90-minute two-hander, a beautifully acted and directed father-daughter play capable of transporting you away from the frozen tundra and back to when leaves were just beginning to fall and birds still sang from the trees."

Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended

"...The tension is palpable. Onstage, and in many cases in real life, millennials like Caitlyn see careers differently than the generation before us. She is not a “right-winger” in the sense that her father would use the term, but she doesn’t believe she is defined as a person by her career. And, the world she lives in is much more expansive yet offers fewer opportunities than his."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...In Anna Ouyang Moench’s 2019 play Birds of North America, father John (John Judd) and daughter Caitlyn (Cassidy Slaughter-Mason) count time through seasons of birds, and pass it with the incidental conversations that occur, mostly staring into the distance at something the other can’t see—tufted titmouse, blue grosbeak, dream job, or heart’s desire."

Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended

"...One of the advantages of a small performance space is that, in the right hands, one can set the mood even before the play has begun. In the Chicago premiere of Anna Ouyang Moench’s Birds of North America, the seating area at A Red Orchid Theatre has been reconfigured by set designer Morgan Laszlo so that viewers are in the backyard of a house, crossing the worn deck and passing by a screened in back-porch to get to their seats. On either side of the audience, autumnal foliage peeks over a battered picket fence; in the yard, straggling tomato plants push out the last crop of the year."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended

"...The production team of “Birds of North America” deserves praise for its realistic backyard set, with raised garden beds, bird feeders and potting supplies by scenic designer Morgan Laszlo, the effortless costume shifts designed by Ben Argenta Kress, and the brilliant surround sound design by Ethan Korvne that bring to life the sounds of bird song and flight."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Judd and Slaughter-Mason are remarkably believable together. You don’t feel as though you are watching actors performing as Father and daughter—you feel as though you are watching an actual family dealing with years of unresolved emotions, grief, disappointment and loss. Their performances allow the audience to understand both sides, even when you want to reach through the stage and tell one of them, “Wake up!”"

Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended

"...John and Caitlyn scan the Autumn skies above their suburban Maryland family home, searching for any new species of birds to add to John’s diary of avian observations. And as they search for the elusive winged creatures, they also search for understanding and a connection between their generations. But children grow up and parents age as our world and the environment keeps changing. Yet in this astonishing play, now in a magnificent and moving production at A Red Orchid Theatre, the bonding over birding brings a father and daughter together in unexpected ways. This is truly a must-see production that theatergoers don’t want to miss."

Buzz Center Stage - Highly Recommended

"...Birds of North America, written by Anna Ouyang Moench, is a story of a father daughter relationship spanning a decade and weathering personal and worldwide conflicts while sharing their love of birdwatching. Admittedly family relationships can be tricky at best. Especially as children age into adulthood and make their own life choices and important decisions. It is difficult for a parent to see them in a new light or role and the default of overly attempting to manage and advise them is not the best fit."

The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended

"...I missed last year’s production that garnered seven 2026 Equity Jeff Award nominations including best play. (Honors to be awarded on Monday, September 14.) I’m so glad I had a second chance to see the remount of BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA once again featuring Judd and Mason. The duo captivate in navigating the messiness of a parent-adult child relationship. "

Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended

"...Birds of North America, now remounted by A Red Orchid Theatre, could be described as a perfect small play. Two characters, one set and a story that covers a multitude of topics. A father-daughter relationship, marriage, aging, climate change and our natural ecosystem, and birds, always birds. The world changes in simple and complex ways over a decade as two people scan the horizon for birds from a suburban Baltimore, Maryland, backyard."

Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended

"...Relationships between adult children and their parents are often fraught: no matter how much love they share, how much they enjoy each other’s company, there is often a little niggling thought in the back of their minds: the child desiring approval but aware of the parent’s flaws, the parent stuck seeing the child as, well, a child, and insistent that they know best. In Anna Ouyang Moench’s beautiful and masterful Birds of North America, now receiving an encore run at A Red Orchid Theatre, this sweet, sad dynamic plays out over the years of a relationship apparently glued together by a fondness for birding."

PicksInSix - Highly Recommended

"...Nestled snugly in their intimate Old Town storefront performance space, A Red Orchid Theatre is lighting a slow, smoldering fire of generational drama with the Chicago Premiere of “Birds of North America” set to warm the coldest of Chicago winter nights."

MaraTapp.org - Highly Recommended

"...As Leo Tolstoy famously said, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” The beauty of the father-daughter relationship in Birds of North America is that they and their family fall between these opposites – as do most of us in our familial relationships."

Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended

"...And it’s the silences that are truly moving. Caitlyn holds her tongue while she shudders or the tears drip at his insensitivity. He does the same at her much-pressed attacks on his work and marriage. We suffer with her for his pedantic references to her lost pregnancies. They both leave the action when enough becomes too much. But they never stop caring, never fail to return, and we should all be so lucky as to feel so much for the people who raised us. We can all benefit from the metaphor of looking closer through a different lens."

Allie and the After Party - Highly Recommended

"...Set in the backyard of their home in Baltimore, we see a father and daughter's relationship grow and change over the years in Birds of North America. The way the two actors develop their relationship parses out information bit by bit as we learn more and packs an emotional punch each time they hit the emotional bit in each scene."

Werner's Theatre Reviews - Highly Recommended

"...Birds of North America is a tender reflection on how relationships evolve under the pressures of time, difference, and change. With heartfelt performances, thoughtful design, and a script balancing humor with emotional depth, A Red Orchid Theatre delivers a production that feels both intimate and expansive. In a world often feeling divided, this play serves as a reminder of the power of shared passions, difficult conversations, and the enduring bond between parent and child."

NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...“Birds of North America,” now playing in its Chicago premiere at A Red Orchid Theatre, is about both birding and a relationship between a father and daughter over the years. Like love and birdwatching, the script by Anna Ouyang Moench is patient, gradually accumulating weight and resonance until you find yourself misty-eyed watching people you didn’t know ninety minutes ago."