Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...The early sections of "Tesla's Letters" are tough going, not least because of extensive exposition about as subtle as Edison's execution of dogs and cats to demonstrate the "dangers" of AC power. Moreover, the sense I was watching a dramatic vessel that was not quite up to carrying all that its creator wanted never fully left me at Sunday's performance. But even though it is sometimes shrill, predictable and overly cinematic, "Tesla's Letters" eventually wins you over by the soundness of its conceit and the human weight of its arguments."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Having spent months in Belgrade in 1997, coincidentally when the play is set (after the Dayton Peace Accords ended the fighting in Bosnia, and as student protests challenged Slobodan Milosevic), I can attest to the authenticity of style and attitude in Stanley's play, which taps into the deep sense of loss, bitterness and resentment felt by many Serbian intellectuals of the time."
SouthtownStar - Somewhat Recommended
"...On the plus side, "Tesla's Letters" affords us a strong sense of the anger and despair felt by the Serbs, and the performers, with near perfect accents, do a superb job of making their characters believable. Still, that's not enough to engage our attention for the entire two hours of the production."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Nick Bowling's schematic staging adds little visual interest to this wearying exercise, and Daisy's smug conclusion--Americans don't kill one another in vast numbers the way other nationalities do--holds up only if one magically erases the Civil War. Tesla wouldn't approve of a contraption that creates so much heat but sheds so little light."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...Tesla’s Letters skirts the edge of didactic too closely to be a great drama, and by ending the first act literally with a bang, Stanley pens a manipulative cliff hanger that isn’t necessary. But TimeLine’s production has depth, insight and intrigue, welcome additions all in this season of singing Santas and dancing reindeer."
Chicago Free Press - Highly Recommended
"...While heavy-handed at times, Stanley ultimately creates an intriguing emotional thriller. Every character, from Daisy to her handsome young guide, has ulterior motives and perspectives. The devastation of war reflects throughout their every calculation, though, and the chilling realities behind their deceptions linger with you long after the lights have faded.
Nick Bowling directs his committed ensemble with steely verve and heightened calculation. Most impressively, his build to the cliffhanging first act is one of grand emotive fortitude."
Time Out Chicago - Recommended
"...The play of ideas is rescued from the weight of its didacticism by Bowling’s strong direction and its four skillful actors, who succeed in putting a human face on man’s inhumanity to man."
ChicagoCritic - Recommended
"...This is an intelligent play that sprinkles info about Tesla with a compelling modern story. Tien Doman and Joel Stanley Huffm are excellent. Seeing Tesla’s Letters will educate us about an unknown yet important inventor, Nikola Tesla as well as present the complexity of the Balkans atrocities."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Highly Recommended
"...The actors nailed the character's accents to the point where I questioned if they were from that region or not. Nothing is worse than an American actor trying to use a foreign accent erroneously. There was also creative use of film displayed on stage to show travel as the theater was small but quaint. The costumes were simple yet authentic as the setting was in the late 1990's."
