Lips Together, Teeth Apart presented by Eclipse Theatre Company at Athenaeum Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...Yet Hoerl and his cast manage to sculpt this material and flesh out what could be cartoonish souls — Sam as New Jersey loudmouth, John as priggish elitist, Chloe as manic "always on" thwarted star — with increasing payoffs over the course of the evening. Collins, whose Sally is the least showy of the characters, delivers a performance of increasing sympathy and anguish as she delves into her own guilt over never fully accepting her brother's sexuality and her seeming inability to bring a child into the world. She is the fulcrum of apparent stability in this world, and when she starts to crack, it's heartbreaking."

Chicago Reader - Recommended

"...Though too long for its own good, this alternately touching and tedious 165-minute three-acter offers meaty roles for its four-person cast, and director Ted Hoerl coaxes excellent performances from Dennis Grimes and Kristin Collins as Sam and Sally, Nathaniel Swift as John, and especially Carin Silkaitis as motormouth Chloe."

Windy City Times - Highly Recommended

"...McNally's contemplative soliloquy-laden script is ill-served by the foreshortened stage picture arising from the Athenaeum's cramped third-floor studio, but the quartet of actors assembled by director Ted Hoerl are adept at maneuvering in small spaces and deliver uniformly full-bodied performances with never a moment's reduction in confidence or stamina. The incorporation of two intermissions likewise ensures audiences' unfatigued attention for this microcosmic portrait of an era not as long ago as we would like to think."

ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended

"...Despite their grim situation, he sprinkles the play with signs of hope for their enlightenment that would prove prophetic. Producing Lips Together, Teeth Apart means something very different now than when it premiered, and that will likely prove true for the rest of Eclipse’s season as well. But it’s a play that deserves to be revisited."

The Fourth Walsh - Recommended

"...Hoerl facilitates an ongoing quandary in LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART. I spent the entire duration of the play deciding the fates of these couples. Should they stay together? Or should they be apart? And by the conclusion, I had my own conclusion. Despite McNally's story problems, I'd recommend spending the 4th with these couples to come to your own conclusion."

NewCity Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Director Ted Hoerl's acting foursome shoot July Fourth fireworks. As Sam and Sally Truman, Dennis Grimes and Kristin Collins create a portrait of a loving couple ravaged by staggering losses, both shared and singular, that they can't voice to each other. John and Chloe Haddock (played by Nathaniel Swift and Carin Silkaitis, respectively) are the second couple cloaked in surprising silence; she is so busy jabbering and cooking and mothering and singing show tunes that it only appears she has never had an unexpressed thought, and although he seems to be the opposite-that-attracted, once his lust, anger and prejudice are given full sway, his sad, grasping song overshadows. All four actors fully inhabit these outwardly composed, inwardly human souls."