Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"..."Last Train to Nibroc" most closely recalls the work of Horton Foote, although Hutton is very much her own writer. The play has an unusual history. It was first written in the late 1990s and had a slow start in New York, attracting some attention in 2007. But the work now has many fans and, in fact, Hutton has written two more plays that follow the lives of May and Raleigh beyond the snapshot we see in "Last Train." I hope Gerace stages those companion works; Hutton is not a well-known nor a trendy nor an oft-produced playwright in Chicago and this production offers a deep sense of what we have missed."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...While the setup is certainly familiar, the scenes that follow are full of surprises as Hutton follows May and Raleigh over a number of years - from America's gradual entry into World War II to its conclusion, with several separations, misunderstandings and re-connections. Along the way, each of them faces a variety of personal and professional challenges and successes, and a sense that both the world at large, and their own corner of it, have changed significantly."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...If playwright Arlene Hutton created meaningful stakes for their relationship, I might care. As it is, they need nothing more from each other than Ginger Rogers needs from Fred Astaire. So when Hutton ramps up the crises—betrayal, abandonment, epilepsy (yes, epilepsy)—in the next two scenes, she’s building towers without foundations. And dear God, the play’s part of a trilogy. Thankfully Haven Theatre gives us only this first installment in 90 inoffensive minutes. Director Jason Gerace's proficient production neither contracts to cliche nor explodes to life. It's just emphatically well behaved."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...This Chicago premiere owes its success to the performances of Mike Tepeli and Amanda Drinkall, assisted by Jason Gerace's direction and Kathy Logelin's dialect instruction. Together, they immerse us so thoroughly in a universe before television and internet made everybody a know-it-all that we can even buy into a silly final misunderstanding based on confusion arising from an overly-ecclesiastical vocabulary. Come see for yourself why sophisticated urban audiences were so entranced in 1999 by Hutton's wholesome hillfolk that they demanded she write two more plays about them."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...As part one of a trilogy, Last Train percolates at such a low setting that it's hard to imagine the full story sustaining itself with the novella-like air achieved here. As a summer romance, though, it hits all the right pangs; a fitting vehicle for Fitzgerald, indeed."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Credit is also due to director Jason Gerace for finding ways to establish how the flow of time effects these characters through how they pace their dialogue, draw close, and then away. Joanna Iwanicka contributes a clever scenic design, which is the norm for her, consisting of large weighted flats, which Drinkall and Tepeli manipulate themselves during scene changes."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Tepeli and Drinkall, through convincing dialogue; acting; and story-telling, bring scenes; events; and characters that never appear on stage to life. The mental hospital, the Nibroc festival, the Tent Revival meetings, the minister, the church school where May teaches, May and Raleigh’s families, and the vast chasm between Combat and The War in Europe and a tent where they both end up tasting pickles are all represented in the actor’s dialectal and story-telling prowess so that we all but forget that this is a two person play. Throughout this, both actors are able to sustain dynamic, entertaining, and believably likable characters."
The Fourth Walsh - Recommended
"...LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC is a quaint love story. It's like a good beach read, satisfyingly engaging without being too serious or heavy-handed."
