Oohrah! presented by LiveWire Chicago at Steppenwolf Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"... This is, in many aspects a well-made play, replete with a mysterious outsider in a character named Chip (Ian R. Tranberg), whom that errant sister brings into this Fayetteville, N.C., homestead, and who may be something other than the gung-ho Marine he seems. But there are far few good plays about this particular demographic, about ordinary American life as it lived in general, and the ubiquity of these problems (the play is set in 2007) does not diminish their weight."

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"... Brunstetter, herself a North Carolina native, has apparent affection for her small-town denizens and their longings. In Brad Akin’s sound, honest production, we do as well. The playwright’s setups can occasionally feel forced; Abby’s actions, in particular, strike one as unlikely. But the relationships in LiveWire’s production are rich enough to bring us along. The sisterly back-and-forth between Engle and Porter feels especially lived-in. Ewing leans a tad too heavily on his character’s goofy antics, which seems largely Brunstetter’s fault; Christopher’s buffoonery is at odds with the measured tone of the play’s other scenes. Peter Esposito, as a grandfather in declining health, gets a pair of moving passages meant to remind us when enough is enough."

ChicagoCritic - Not Recommended

"...The cast features weak to nonexistent Southern accents as they plod through Brunstetter’s script. With so many unfounded character changes and so many unexplained plot twists, Oohrah! plays like a sophomoric first draft. With loads of stupid dialogue (especially from Christopher and Abby’s monologues) and the lack of comprehensible storyline, playwright Bekah Brunstetter needs to rethink her rambling play. Nothing gets resolved and we never know why anyone does what they do. Brunstetter’s attempt to show how ‘white trash’ military family’s live is offensive and implausible. This group never considered getting outside help to cope with their trauma. They just drift through life much as thus play drifts through two hours plus of our time."

Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"... The acting is powerful, the set by Judy Radovsky, well done and except for the two lighting spots where Pop Pop speaks,Eric Bransort, has done a great job. The sound and music by Stephen Ptacek and properties by Maria DeFabo are better than usual for a low budget production and Brad Akin’s direction was smooth ,making the best use of the space and the actors. It is the script that had to many holes in it that left me wanting more. I wanted to know why Ron was unhappy coming home to a beautiful wife and daughter! I wanted to know why Pop Pop was being cared for by the two daughters but lived alone! I wanted to know what the hell was wrong with Abby and why she had to live with her sister if she made a living and why Chip felt the way he did. The final scene of the play is one that I cannot really describe, but it left me cold and with the subject matter- an army office coming home after fighting a war that we shouldn’t be in and his world falling apart, deserves more."

Chicago Theater Beat - Somewhat Recommended

"...In any case it’s a less than edifying revelation, as is its corollary that the warrior ethic distorts males’ natural instincts with women and, even worse, women’s expectations for masculinity and maturity. Oohrah! is bleak, reductionist and simplistic, exploiting stereotypes that “Hurt Locker” at least tried to justify."