Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Steep Theatre is a Chicago company increasingly known for its uncompromising acting, and Lord knows this particular production, directed by Robin Witt, more than enhances that reputation. It also has been the main Chicago home for Stephens. Also the author of "Harper Regan," "Punk Rock" and "Pornography" and similarly popular at Griffin Theatre, he was produced often in Chicago far earlier than in New York, where his plays are just now beginning to make inroads. He is a phenomenally talented writer, a formative risk-taker unstinting in theme as well as compassionate, warm and kind."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"..."Motortown" is a pitch-black, profoundly disturbing horror show. And the cast at Steep Theatre, under the razorlike direction of Robin Witt, acts the stuffing out of it. But lurking just behind that visceral impact is yet another question, and a troubling one: Isn't there something just a bit too sensational, too exploitative, even subtly pornographic, about it all? Or is that precisely the point?"
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Joel Reitsma is radioactive as Danny, a mentally unstable British soldier returning home from his tour of duty. His problems seem to run deeper than PTSD, though, when a harsh breakup sets him on a gruesome quest to regain some sense of power. Under Robin Witt's unflinching direction, Danny's violence speaks in the harsh eloquence of tragedy."
Centerstage - Somewhat Recommended
"...Still, there’s a raw emotion to the piece that the cast taps effectively. Reitsma does a tremendous job of making his character both terrifying and sympathetic, even likable at times.
Ultimately, despite some flaws, this is an effective drama."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...Reitsma's performance is impeccably controlled, simultaneously both mesmerizing and repellent. You don't want to take your eyes away from him, but you're afraid of what you'll see if you don't. It's a remarkable achievement, one that's matched by much of the supporting cast he encounters in Stephens's succession of two- and three-actor scenes."
Chicago On the Aisle - Highly Recommended
"...If there's something vaguely clinical about "Motortown," its unblinking honesty sends you away deeply impressed and reflective. Within the battered heart of this erstwhile soldier, a residue of human kindness abides, a mutation of love."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...Motortown is a weirdly intoxicating drama that will upset some and get others to wonder why it was written and why Steep Theatre chose to mount it? It is quite in the spirit of Brecht with psychological and homoerotic undertones. It sure dramatizes how war can either bring out or enhance the madness in a soldier. You'll be moved and disturbed by Motortown. Be warned, it is only for tough theatre patrons."
