Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...With a savvy sense of the moment, TimeLine has come up with a snappy, screwball, slightly salacious comedy about an intriguing piece of American political history: the blistering 1934 fight for the California governorship between the Republican Frank Merriam and the renowned socialist author Upton Sinclair."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...Campaigns, Inc. was the name adopted by the two-person firm of Leone Baxter (Tyler Meredith) and Clem Whitaker (Yuriy Sardarov, late of NBC's "Chicago Fire"). As the play opens, they've defected from the campaign of the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor to pitch their services to the Republican incumbent governor, a vulgar blowhard named Frank Merriam (Terry Hamilton), who only ascended to his job upon his predecessor's death a few months earlier."
Chicago Reader - Recommended
"...So there are a lot of narrative balls in the air in Campaigns, Inc., sometimes to the detriment of the character development. But as a comic guidebook to how propaganda works, and how even the best candidate on paper can be demolished in three dimensions, it’s a peach. Allan has a sharp ear for ironic aphorisms—”They’re not lies. They’re different versions of the truth,” being one pungent example. (He also has fun dropping in references to steak as a nod to Sinclair’s most famous book, The Jungle, set in Chicago’s stockyards.)"
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Fake News! Over the past 5 or 6 years, this term has become a focal point in the world of politics. Would you believe that this rather new expression has been around since the 1930's? Well it has! In the World Premiere of Will Allan's "Campaigns, Inc." onstage now at Timeline Theatre we learn about Leone Baxter and Clem Whitaker and the company they formed called Campaigns, Inc." Let's look at the times and the set-up."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...This welcome return to TimeLine's intimate Wellington & Broadway venue offers an authentic, humorous look at how everything old is new again. Most of us believed that the term "fake news" was a contemporary, derogatory label, created by a former President who was trying to sway his followers into not believing the trusted news sources. He wanted his people to only hear and believe the lies that he and his cronies were preaching. However, from Will Allan's clever and compelling original comedy, now enjoying its world premiere in Chicago, we learn that this practice of creating a lie factory in order to sway the voting pubic, has been around for over eighty years. And sadly, it seems there's no sign of these fictitious, fabricated fact-finders ever going away, from now on. The moral of this play is "Buyer Beware!""
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...Playwright Will Allen examines this race in CAMPAIGNS, INC, playing at the TimeLine Theatre through September 18. CAMPAIGNS, INC was originally slated for release in 2020, to inject some much-needed humor into that anxious year and its contentious presidential election. But the play's impact is even weightier now, after two more years of unscrupulous politics."
The Fourth Walsh - Somewhat Recommended
"...Playwright Will Allan explores the origins of gaslight campaigning in his new play. Allan tells the true story of political operatives, Leone Baxter (played by plucky Tyler Meredith) and Clem Whittaker (played by the smooth-talking Yuriy Sardarov). They introduce dirty shenanigans that drive the results of the 1934 election for the California governor. Their target is well-known author Upton Sinclair, the democratic candidate. Although the story is interesting, the execution has some issues."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...Jill Lepore wrote about America’s first political spin doctors ten years ago in The New Yorker. She called the California political consulting team of Leone Baxter and Clem Whittaker “The Lie Factory.” TimeLine Theatre Company member Will Allan calls his play about the pair’s origin story Campaigns, Inc. after their company name, and attempts to reposition their serious turn towards national gaslighting into a screwball comedy."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...As fun and funny as Campaigns, Inc. is, Allan’s depiction of 1934 holds a mirror to our own moment nearly a century later. Just as Baxter and Whitaker ran what Sinclair called a Lie Factory, today we have claims of alternative facts and bad-faith accusations of fake news. Politicians find endless new ways to demonize each other, and it’s more difficult than ever to discern spin from truth. Names and faces may change, but TimeLine Theatre sends the audience off with one timeless lesson: keep your wits about you – and enjoy the ride."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Director Nick Bowling and his team have put together a pitch-perfect production, especially in the use of video (courtesy of projections designer Anthony Churchill) that captures the rising influence of Hollywood glamor and the newsreel as precursor to television news, especially Fox News. It's a device that sets the tone and advances the story without overshadowing the terrific cast at work here."