Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...Jessica Thebus previously directed this show in Washington in 2008, and she certainly understands its point of view and has cast its roles exceptionally well. Boy, though, this earnest staging could use more vivacity, messiness and variety - its rhythms get far too fixed in set patterns, and there are a lot of scenes wherein characters seem to wander on to Jacqueline and Richard Penrod's resonant setting with all of the urgency of folks on the beach. To some extent, I suppose, these denizens of Slab City are symbolically on vacation, but I kept thinking how the piece would be so much stronger theatrically if only Thebus were working counter-intuitively. Just because you're dropping out of the big picture doesn't mean the small stuff is all proceeding at half-speed. Au contraire, such crises only intensify. Jenny Sutter saw plenty of rough edges in Iraq: her play in Evanston could use far more bite."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"... “Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter,” Julie Marie Myatt’s wise, searing, often mordantly funny play —now in director Jessica Thebus’ superbly realized Midwest premiere production at Next Theatre —deals with that subject in the most insightful and original way. Intriguingly, what sets her drama apart from similar stories is that it places the trauma of one particular female soldier —a U.S. Marine who has spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan, and whose young daughters have been cared for by their grandmother —alongside that of many different people (non-veterans) whose lives also have gone awry for reasons neither they nor we can fully fathom."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Playwright Julie Marie Myatt pulls off two difficult feats in this 2008 script: she depicts recovery from trauma without resorting to bromides and creates characters who are offbeat but not cloying. In Jessica Thebus's funny and moving production, Slab City is like the forest of Shakespeare's comedies-a semi-magical place where you can sort stuff out. Struggling to stay strong even as grief threatens to swallow her whole, Lily Mojekwu's Jenny is riveting."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter is both a serious military drama and a kooky outsider comedy; Jessica Thebus's cast strikes a fine balance between the two. The cartoonish supporting figures include a woman addicted to everything (Jenny Avery) and a potentially sociopathic bus-stop worker (Justin James Farley), but Thebus reins in her actors so that the personalities don't go too over-the-top. Still, the script places too much emphasis on these side characters, keeping Jenny Sutter from the homecoming she deserves.
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...As a character crudely puts it, Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter is a play about people "figuring their shit out." Overall Myatt's healing feels real, even if these six happy exiles sometimes resemble the eccentric Sycamore clan in You Can't Take It with You. The real test for this play is what it says to the veterans in the audience. My guess is-considering that there are an incredible 25 suicides to every combat death- that it can only help our appalling failure to take care of our wounded warriors."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...The 90 minute one act, filled with dark humor, attempts to recognize this group's struggle for recovery and personal acceptance. Will Jenny have her epiphany or will she self-destruct? Will Lou over come her urge to escape reality through running away to places and will she give in to her multiple addictions? Can Buddy ever get Lou to stay in Slab City as his soul mate? Can Donald get over his trauma? This play asks us to consider our response to traumatized war veterans in particular and all traumatized souls in general. As much as many such suffers retreat to isolated place such as Slab City (an actual place in the Deseret of California), our society ignores injured and traumatized folks, especially war veterans. Just because the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars are unpopular doesn't mean we shouldn't help and accept those brave souls who sacrificed themselves for us. Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter hopefully can get us to acknowledge those heroes. Jenny Avery and Lily Mojekwu anchor a terrific cast."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Recommended
"...Playwright Julie Marie Myatt created unique, real characters... emphasis on *characters.* Myatt puts them on an abandoned army base turned desert oasis. Myatt's world is a one-of-a-kind place of acceptance. It's a cross between a purgatory and a prison. These flawed folks are working on life improvements. Director Jessica Thebus morphs her cast into this band of eccentrics. Their performances intrigue as we try to determine who-the-hell-are-these-people? In the lead, Jenny Avery (Lou) is hilarious as a former addict. A perky Avery reveals her multiple afflictions that cause her to be in perpetual motion. Avery's honesty and spunk draw us into her unconventional life. A laid-back Lawrence Grimm (Buddy) is the unlikely religious leader of the weird faction. Grimm delivers bizarre but profound sermons. A brooding Lily Mojekwu plays wounded with equal parts toughness and sadness."
Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"... For the many years I have attended The Next Theatre Company in Evanston, I have found their work to be solid with scripts that are stories of both entertainment and educational. Their current production, Julie Marie Myatt’s “Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter”, while well acted, is not a story that I can recommend to everyone. First of all the topic is “healing” and all the characters in this play are in need of same. Some are working toward it, others may never truly find it. The story begins in what appears to be a tent-like structure in a war zone where we find Jenny Sutter ( a powerful performance by Lily Mojekwu), a marine who has evidently lost her leg and is about to be shipped back to the United States. We watch her struggle changing into civvies and walk off on her own. Trouble is, we are not sure of what happened to her and it is not until later in the story that we realize that her leg is gone, not just wounded."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"..."Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter" is a reflective piece on many levels. The story's many messages may stay with you. It is clear that this journey is played out with many of our veterans coming home from an all too long war. They have lost something of themselves across the oceans; both mental and physical. How can we help them on their journey?"
