Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...This 90-minute play — moving, sophisticated, authentic and clearly grounded in empathy for those of us who must navigate the territory of messy families — keeps squirming away from your expectations like a snake in the bayou. You think you know where it is going, and then it suddenly slithers off in a whole other direction. And, at least in my case, some initial resistance to the premise was replaced by real admiration for the complexity of the human narrative that unravels at the Biograph Theatre."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Although the plot machinations in “Tree” can sometimes seem more neatly devised than organically grown, the sheer freshness of Hebert’s three generations of characters, and the intensity of emotion and primal need that drives them, more than compensates for this flaw. The blood ties here are fierce, whether they persist in memories of the past that are all too vivid and unresolved, or in discoveries of the moment that are more than a little unsettling."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...As Leo and Didi feint and parry in the present, Leo's senile mother, Jessalyn (a magnificent Celeste Williams), slips back into heartbreaking memories of her long-ago affair. Hebert's script feels formulaic at points, but I was won over by the performances--including those of Elaine Rivkin and Aaron Todd Douglas as the vibrant, vulnerable half-siblings."
Windy City Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...This isn't the first time that director Andrea J. Dymond has been assigned the task of finding a story in a labyrinth of provocative imagery, and under her guidance Aaron Todd Douglas and Elaine Rivkin maintain a capable level of interest throughout, assisted by Leslie Ann Sheppard as the peppery JJ and Celeste Williams in the thankless role of Mama Jesse. Ultimately, however, Tree is a premise still searching for a resolution—a goal we eagerly await, perhaps in a later play."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Dymond’s production has both strengths and weaknesses. Williams and Sheppard bring raw energy and comic timing to the roles of Leo’s mother, Jessalyn, and daughter, JJ. Rivkin, however, struggles as Didi, seeming ill-at-ease even as Didi settles into her surroundings, and emotionally bottled up even when Didi blows her top. Jacqueline and Rick Penrod’s busy set design (a house that transforms in its upper tiers into a tree) meanwhile clusters the action in pockets of the stage, inhibiting movement and contributing little narrative momentum."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...This is a wonderful play deals with the influence of the past, especially with an explosive interracial relationship, on two separate families. We see how key early life events can cloud a family for generations. Tree is a gem of a play!"
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...This is the kind of play you see from all sides, so present is its present. We get to know these four characters intimately--even as Williams’ Jesssalyn’s mind seems frozen in a time when she was unconditionally happy, remembering climbing a tree with her white lover and diving into a Louisiana lake. This powerful work ultimately argues that love creates marriage, not the other way around, whether interracial or intersexual. But it has no agenda, just a lot of truth-telling in a concentrated production lifted high by four perfectly focused and righteously possessed performers."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...All the ingredients are in place and have been blended to perfection by this crew under the onstage leadership of stage manager Michelle Medvin, so that we the audience can leave the theater well satisfied that we have seen a unique an dtenderlove story between a man and a woman and then a rebirthfor another man and woman ( a different type of “love”), and if you feel like you want more, stay for the dessert, if you come on a Wednesday for the post show discussion)."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...Andrea J. Dymond directs a deeply moving, incredibly funny production (seriously, Jessalyn gets some amazing one liners) with an integrity in acting and design that elevates Hébert’s script. Jacqueline and Rick Penrod’s set design evokes the title of the play with fanned wooden planks above the actors and a stack of boxes creating a tree trunk through Leo’s home, making Didi’s inspection of the containers a literal dig through her family roots."
