Teenage Dick Reviews
Chicago Tribune- Recommended
"...Smartly directed by Balcom, "Teenage Dick" is a fun piece by a lively young writer and performed with matching exuberance at Theater Wit, where the show stars MacGregor Arney as the Machiavellian teen, and a supporting cast featuring Liz Cloud, Ty Fanning, Courtney Rikki Green, Kathleen Niemann and Tamara Rozofsky."
Chicago Sun Times- Highly Recommended
"...Throughout, "Teenage Dick" is funny, irreverent and insightful. That all comes through on screen. It's not quite as potent as it would be in person, but if you silence your phone, dim the lights and engage it's awfully close."
Chicago Reader- Highly Recommended
"...Above all, Teenage Dick is about social isolation and how it can create existential voids too easily filled with dark imaginings and twisted solipsism."
Windy City Times- Highly Recommended
"...Even viewed via streaming video, it's a very effective production, directed by Brian Balon. As Richard, MacGregor Arney does stellar work in a grueling role which keeps him onstage almost every second of the play's 100 minutes. And kudos to Courtney Rikki Green for her highly vulnerable interpretation of Anne Margaret."
Around The Town Chicago- Somewhat Recommended
"...Although there are a few funny moments in the show, the humor is mainly based on overacting. So from time to time, my proverbial teenage eyeroll put me in good stead. But the story improves as it goes along, and the ending is quite good—which I won’t give away. Above all, the meaning behind the play should resonate with many people, especially those who may have been bullied via social media or may know of somebody who has been."
Third Coast Review- Recommended
"...Director Balcom directs this high school tragicomedy sensitively and Arney and Green are convincing as teenagers falling in love. (Lew’s Dick is a much more sympathetic character than Shakespeare’s Richard.) Liz Cloud adds an authentic grownup element."
Chicago On Stage- Recommended
"...You need a different mindset when you are watching something on a screen that, as Wechsler says, was "made to be performed by a group of people in a single room." It cannot and will not be the same experience as seeing it live, but it turns out that the video version of Teenage Dick works really well, despite the rush with which it was created. Governor Pritzker's crowd limitations had grown tighter and tighter, forcing the production date to move up from Friday to Wednesday to Monday, but the cast and crew managed to pull it off. As actor MacGregor Arnie, who plays Richard, says, "a show becomes ready when it needs to be," and an all-day Monday rehearsal allowed this one to feel fully realized."
TotalTheater- Recommended
"...There's plenty to discuss, too. Author Lew has fashioned from the premise and personnel of the familiar classroom classic, with its equating of a twisted body with a twisted soul, an excoriative analysis of social bigotry, stereotyping, bullying, female objectification and the futility of taking the long view. Our Richard's affliction with cerebral palsy and the hostility inflicted upon him by his peers at Roseland High School propels him to adopt Macchiavellian tactics in his quest to become school president-desperate measures that result in disappointment, disillusionment, betrayal and two actual deaths. His final words, however, are a rebuke to those who first branded him a villain, yet now feign surprise when their prophesy is fulfilled."
Picture This Post- Recommended
"...Unfortunately given the unforeseen circumstances of the virus, this writer knows the theater perhaps had to film and broadcast the production before it was officially ready for the public. However, even given that, Lew's script is a strong and comedic adaptation of the famous Shakespeare play. Theater Wit has found a way to bring the hard work of these artists to patrons throughout the city who have no choice but to isolate themselves in their homes. That alone is a commendable discovery."
NewCity Chicago- Somewhat Recommended
"..."Teenage Dick" feels like a play that wasn't written for anyone under the age of thirty-five. When I realized how young playwright Mike Lew was, I was astounded. The way this play portrays its teenage subjects screams "Ok, Boomer." "Teenage Dick" premiered in 2018 and is supposed to be set "now (circa 2018)," according to the script. However, it reads more like "Richard III" meets "Degrassi" rather than "Pen15." Teenagers don't say "Wiggin' out," Mike."