Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...I think "Her America" is one of Neveu's richest and most interesting pieces and a response to the state of play in this country without entirely being a response. It is provocative and, at times, moving. That is thanks to Buddeke, an actress you likely know well if you have darkened the door of many Chicago theaters during the past generation of work. This actress, gently directed here by Linda Gillum, rarely, if ever, turns in a performance which does not appear to cost her everything to do."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...While there also is a hint of Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams and William Inge at play here, there is no grandeur. The joy comes from watching how Buddeke (directed by Linda Gillum) creates such a mercurial, nuanced, at moments blackly comic, but mostly confused and disillusioned person as she rambles around Grant Sabin's ideal set with its lighting by Richard Norwood, props by Holly McCauley and sound by Lindsay Jones."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...n Neveu's new one-woman show, written for Buddeke, she plays another middle-aged woman psychologically battered by the condescending men in her life, but this time she finds no relief. In fact her husband, after discovering her dark secret, sets the dogs on her and traps her in the basement. It's a harrowing script, but under Linda Gillum's direction, Buddeke uncharacteristically pulls her punches for 70 minutes, seeming more inconvenienced and irritated than traumatized. Her performance entertains when it might horrify."
Windy City Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...Neveu's intentions are admirable, but his full-out weep-for-the-innocent-poor campaign only succeeds in sentimentalizing those he would ennoble. That task falls to Buddeke, who reaches beyond the checklist text-further muddied by the author's ambivalence toward abusers and enablers alike, hackneyed diatribes aimed at the usual religious, economic and domestic brainwashes and a curiously anticlimactic Big Revelation-to endow her Kmart-clad heroine with dignity and pathos. If this necessitates occasionally slipping into emotional excess ( a hazard catalyzed by Lindsay Jones' incidental score overamplified use of Aerosmith's "Dream On" ) under the collaborative guidance of Linda Gillum, the resulting 70 minutes in this Solo Celebration welcome of a new year never cease to engage-and maybe even enlighten-audiences too long ignorant of their fellow travelers."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...It’s how Buddeke conveys Lori’s jilted downstairs desperation that delivers the (ill) goods. An ugly act sets a very ordinary woman far apart. But “her America” is not so easily dismissed. After 70 minutes Lori shares it all too well."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Her America is unlike any one person show in that it is intimately person with unexpected twists. Kate Buddeke's performance will rivet you to the edge of your seat as she blends humor with pathos as she seeks a place to comfort herself from her pain and angst. This show is a special event that will move your. The wonder of terrific writing and heart-felt honest acting becomes powerful art."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...Kate Buddeke has been showered with awards and praise throughout her career, both locally and elsewhere (including many Broadway credits). After seeing her performance as Lori, audience members will never question why. Her portrayal is endearing, real, and, at times, a tad uncomfortable (certainly on purpose). Despite the dark turns Lori takes us through, there is always a lightness and almost childlike quality deep inside to which the audience is able to cling."
NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The impotence of Lori and her men—their inability to comprehend or confront the forces that have turned their once-proud town into a place without a future—is the real message of “Her America.” It is impotent people who are drawn to a politics of resentment and despair. When the defeated Lori talks about the “lost-life look” of her neighbors and we see the fragility and disconnection of the characters, we realize that Neveu may have written the first play of the new political era. It is a significant accomplishment, if a depressing one. "
