Golda's Balcony presented by Pegasus Players at Truman College- O'Rourke Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"...In 2003, Tovah Feldshuh—under pounds of makeup and prosthetics—earned a Tony for her performance in the Broadway production. Brooks takes a different approach, and though she is physically too young, she inhabits Meir's personality with a sense of purpose and deep feeling shaped by years of accumulated experience. Monologue shows always hinge on a single question: Is this a person you want to spend 90 minutes with? Brooks' accomplishment here is that she leaves no room for dissent."

Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended

"...At Pegasus Players, "Golda's Balcony" -- William Gibson's fierce, probing portrait of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir -- can be seen and heard in all its complexity, clarity and tormented ambiguity thanks to a bravura performance by Janet Ulrich Brooks."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...In this one-woman show the aged Golda--passionate Zionist, socialist, and feminist--recounts childhood memories of a pogrom in her native Kiev, her adolescence in America, participation in the founding of Israel, failed marriage, and anxiety that she might have to use nuclear weapons in the 1973 Yom Kippur war--though strangely missing is mention of one of her most important actions, the deployment of hit squads to avenge the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. Under Alex Levy's direction, Janet Ulrich Brooks's commanding performance is subtly supported by Christopher Kriz's mournful background music."

Chicago Jewish Star - Highly Recommended

"...This historically based, one-woman show, beautifully directed by Alex Levy, succeeds at being both dramatic and educational as Brooks captures the passions and events that shaped Golda Meir’s life."

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"...Brooks embodies, variously, Henry Kissinger, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Meir’s beleaguered husband, Morris, all without losing the voice of Meir herself. Brooks’s Meir also embodies, movingly, the burning Jewish desire for a homeland without losing sight of what happens when idealism is backed by killing force: “I begin with the redemption of the human race,” she sighs, “and end up in the munitions business.” "

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...One-actor shows are difficult-- especially when dealing with only one character. Brooks attempts (and achieves) variety by changing garb and activities."