Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...And if Monroe's production occasionally plays things a bit broad (the early portions are somewhat ham-fisted), I'll take that any day over an interpretation too timid to laugh at itself. Just as important, "Trouble in Mind" still rings true in the way it treats race as a dicey subject for discussion — you're bound to offend someone eventually, whether standing up for yourself or about to eat your foot."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Velma Austin reveals Wiletta's awakening conscience with believable passion and spine, though the script leaves us wondering what sparked her transformation. The rest of Vaun Monroe's ensemble nails a tricky blend of show-biz posturing and personal revelation. Eustace Allen's put-upon stage manager is a subtle comic highlight, and the final confrontation between Austin and John Mossman's pseudo-liberal director is a corker."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...The faux fly-lines at the side of the Artistic Home's storefront stage and the leading ladies' Dior wardrobes locate us immediately in a dramatic universe where lunching on pizza and chianti was an adventure in exotic cuisine. And the well-chosen ensemble—none of whom appear old enough to recall the early days of the civil-rights movement—evoke the climate of their period with uncaricatured conviction (assisted in no small part by director Vaun Monroe's psychologically revealing choreography). Velma Austin's steely dowager and John Mossman's clueless swaggerer dominate the action, but it's Cola Needham's second-act account of Jim Crow atrocities that holds us as spellbound with horror as it did audiences in 1954, when Childress' refusal to give her script a happier ending curtailed its chance at a Tony-eligible Broadway production."
Centerstage - Highly Recommended
"...Alice Childress’ 1950’s race relations/backstage drama “Trouble in Mind” is a relatively obscure gem that deserves far more recognition. Director Vaun Monroe and his cast have done justice to it in this searing Artistic Home production."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...
Childress’s script is often hilarious as it follows the silliness and conflict of the rehearsals for the play-within-the-play. John Mossman is especially good as Al Manners, a director out of Waiting for Guffman, whose pretentious (and abusive) directorial style doesn’t render him completely unsympathetic. In fact, each character has depth, and the fun of the script buffers the incredibly painful and somehow surprising climax. Sheldon Forrester (Cola Needham) narrates a haunting memory of witnessing a lynching, and Wiletta decides, finally, to speak truth to power, no matter the cost."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...Trouble In Mind is an important work that begs to be seen. It is truthfully written, balanced with loads of humor as it deals head on with racism. It was a radical play in the 1950′s and, shamefully, it is still revelation today. This production will make you laugh and it will stun you sensitivities as only theatre can do. Put this one on your “must see” list."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...Though it sometimes succumbs to the same histrionics that fuel the play within this play, Monroe’s staging ignites memorable fireworks. Velma Austin’s stalwart and wickedly subversive Wiletta is a triumph of passive-aggressive manipulation—until she finally exploded in a welcome showdown. As her unintended opponent, John Mossman’s Eddie plays an imperious 1957 liberal, finally shaken to the core when his dark side goes public."
Chicago Theater Beat - Highly Recommended
"...The Artistic Home‘s Trouble in Mind is a solid production. Thespians and lay audiences alike will enjoy the self-deprecating nature of the play’s humor. But the larger takeaway is the message that when it comes to race and entertainment, rarely are issues black and white."
