Chicago Tribune
- Recommended
"...There is much genuinely funny comedy here, thanks mostly to Marc Grapey, who plays a potpourri of authority figures and hangers on. And, in Key’s fine performance, you get the restless subtext that Sweet clearly wants to evoke."
Chicago Sun Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Sweet nails a few essential types, and a skilled cast makes his characters' fates just believable enough as they unspool their stories in retrospect. But there is a certain lackadaisical quality that precludes any real emotional investment. The play's most interesting element is its sense of class tension. The laughs come primarily by way of a slew of hilarious cameos by Marc Grapey."
Chicago Reader
- Somewhat Recommended
"...For a play set in very tense times, Class Dismissed exhibits a startling lack of tension. Still, the performances in Dennis Zacek's staging are warm and funny enough to carry us through most of the less-believable moments. And putting Marc Grapey in to play all the smaller roles is sheer genius: Grapey can save a scene with one understated sigh of exasperation."
Windy City Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...At the onset of Class Dismissed, the cast comes bouncing on stage while ‘60s folk music plays in the background. They stretch and smile and embrace and strain mightily to emit groovy vibes before introducing themselves with a forced folksiness that's one step removed from a kumbaya sing-a-long. It's all fine and good, if you're in the mood to embrace hippie-dippie clichés. But if you're in the mood for complex, thoughtfully written characters, a dramatic arc that pulls you in and an intelligent, provocative story that leaves you thinking, you best skip Jeffrey Sweet's Class."
Chicago Free Press
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Class Dismissed is, well, easily dismissed. To his credit playwright Jeffrey Sweet clearly rejects the “great man” theory of history: His leftist sympathies go to real people. Set on the sidelines of a tumultuous decade, his action portrait of a Vermont commune depicts idealists who dream big but compromise to survive. Change, Sweet suggests, is incremental and from the bottom up."
Copley News Service
- Highly Recommended
"...Class Dismissed is a nostalgia trip, and more. It places a collection of sympathetic characters on stage and invites the audience to enjoy their interaction, their setbacks, their small triumphs, and how they change, often reluctantly, with the passing of time. They are agreeable people to be around, burnished by the playwright’s spot-on dialogue. One gets the feeling that Jeffrey Sweet likes his characters and that feeling communicates itself happily to the audience."
Time Out Chicago
- Somewhat Recommended
"...With the exception of the occasional stinging one-liner—Roy announces he has news and Joseph’s Wendy parries back at him with “Why did my asshole just tighten?”—Sweet’s diluted, self-reflective conversations about raising your kids while lowering your morals sound like The Little Chill. All the while, patchwork monologues and other whiplash-inducing textual shortcuts feel worthy of a traffic citation. You’ll wish kids grew up faster."
ChicagoCritic
- Recommended
"...Victory Gardens Theater, the home of world premiers plays, debuts ensemble playwright Jeffrey Sweet’s new play, Class Dismissed. It is a somewhat nostalgic look back at the 1960’s and the effects that decisions made during that time of rebellion have on the lives of participants growing up in that tumultuous time. Class Dismissed is funny, well acted and accurate."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Directed by Dennis Zacek, this little story left a little something to be desired in its storytelling. I know Sweet has done some fine work, but often playwrights get into a sort of mold where it is hard to tell one play from the next and I hope that Sweet will not go that route on us. He is far too witty and clever to allow this to take place. I found that after a slowish start, this script did get better and the cast was terrific."
