Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...No show — like, ever — has as many orgasms, and it’s interesting to see “In the Next Room” again, especially in so different a production with a very clever setting from Sarah JHP Watkins and aptly fussy costumes by Alison Siple. Moe has crafted a particularly powerful conclusion — something beyond what you usually see in a Ruhl play, but embracing the feminist power of one of that gifted writer’s best ideas. It’s like she took the show and gave it a firmer shove toward the right spot for the here and now."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...As farce, it might work beautifully, as director Mechelle Moe's astutely starched cast demonstrate when given the chance. But also in typical fashion, Ruhl waxes pop-philosophical-about art, love, sex, and female self-empowerment-from amid the whimsy, making for ample cheap sentiment. At two and a half hours, TimeLine's handsomely designed production long overstays its welcome."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...Whew! It's hot stuff, fundamental stuff and surprisingly funny stuff, but never at the expense of the characters. With a lot of irony and a touch of sarcasm, Ruhl's women rule but she makes the men sympathetic as well, much preferring to educate them rather than punish them. It's smart, gifted, inquisitive and compassionate playwriting, which are hallmarks of Ruhl's tremendously varied output."
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...It’s not that Ruhl’s literally electrifying, if overlong, historical drama is much ado about nothing. But it does promise more than it delivers. Only by play’s end do you realize how elaborate is Ruhl’s “process of elimination,” removing electricity from sex to see if love is left. That, happily, is not the case with Moe’s sublime cast, Sarah JHP Watkins’ sumptuously appointed jewel-box of a drawing room, Andrew Hansen’s sound design redolent of the Gilded Age, and, to praise once more, Siple’s gorgeous period costumes. The current is complete."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Back in 2011, Victory Gardens presented Sarah Ruhl's Pulitzer-Prize finalist " In The Next Room, or the Vibrator Play" to thunderous applause. Six years have gone by and with Timeline Theatre Company's new production of this play, Now onstage at Stage 773, I found, that like a good wine, it has mellowed and is even better. Of course, some of that is a different director ( Mechelle Moe does a brilliant job) and of course the different cast of players. Let me first take you through the setting; the dawn of the discovery of electricity, and after the Civil Way, circa 1880 in a small town outside of New York."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...Sarah Ruhl’s hilarious, yet snappy look at turn of the century manners and morals is not that far removed from today’s continuing discussion concerning women’s rights. Despite its historical significance, this production, under Mechelle Moe’s expert direction, is filled with good vibrations, both insightful and fresh. The playwright and director point up how society and, in particular, men still must recognize the needs and potential of women, even in the 21st century. TimeLine presents an adult comedy that’s fun, unabashedly about sex, historically accurate and still relevant, even today."
Third Coast Review - Highly Recommended
"...It’s a woman’s play, about an era when women’s physical and emotional needs and desires were not only misunderstood, but completely ignored. Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play is a charming and titillating look at life in the bad old 19th century."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...In the Next Room is directed with a deliberate, slow-paced rhythm by Mechelle Moe, a member of Timeline Theatre. Moe has brought out the very best in her actors, who uniformly deliver excellent performances."
Picture This Post - Highly Recommended
"...Director Mechelle Moe keeps the farcical elements of Ruhl’s script in balance with its strong message: When men repress women, society overall suffers. Once we adjust to the outrageous vibrator obsession on stage, we notice how much loneliness and loss accompanies it. Lively and intense Catherine (Rochelle Therrien) cannot adequately nurse her newborn; Elizabeth (Krystel McNeil), the dignified and grounded black woman brought in to feed the baby, has just buried her own infant."
