Blackbird Reviews

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"...The acting is formidably intense, especially from Lindsay, whose gutsy performance is really something in terms of its veracity, intensity and vulnerability. Ray is mostly on the defensive in this play but that quality in a role can really tax an actor (it's harder to play) and Wojcik captures the character most skillfully. Huffman's direction knows when to hit the brakes and when to let the actors bounce off the walls, rhetorically and physically."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Under Spencer Huffman's direction, Lindsay and Wojcik tear through Harrower's story with excoriating honesty. Wojcik is a compelling blend of self-pity with just enough warmth to make us see how a confused kid like Una could construe that as compassionate concern. Lindsay's Una has a long monologue explaining what exactly happened the night Ray was caught (he had taken her away to a seaside town), but though she has all the details of the events down cold, the impact and meaning of what Ray did to Una still seems just out of grasp-a ghostly presence that will neither evaporate into the mists of memory, nor take corporeal form so she can name it."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...“Blackbird” is a play that is hard to explain. And, ultimately, it is unknowable. This is a gripping, unsettling, and explosive production, presented by The New Theatre Project, that goes beyond the simple shock value to something that penetrates our very soul. Written by David Harrower and directed by Spencer Huffman, Blackbird does a deep, dangerous, unvarnished dive into the hardship and emotional harm done to a young girl sexualized too early in life. It also probes the mindset of a man who was attracted to this underage girl, one who paid his price to society."

NewCity Chicago - Recommended

"...Olivia Lindsay and Todd Wojcik are talented, thoughtful actors who are well-matched as Una and Ray. Lindsay exudes a barely contained rage and need that contrast sharply with Wojcik's stolid defensiveness and reluctance to engage with this figure out of his ugly past, who threatens to unravel the precarious new life he has managed to make for himself. Their performances are supported by director Huffman's energized direction, whereby the extreme tension between the characters plays out not only verbally, but also in the way they circle around each other warily, in a dance of distrust mingled with the desire to express things long left unsaid."