The Antiquities at Goodman Theatre

Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended

"...Simply put, your head will spin for 95 minutes. And then you'll worry more about the human trajectory, maybe arriving (as did I) at the notion that we really do spend our time obsessing over entirely the wrong things."

Chicago Sun Times - Recommended

"...In playwright Jordan Harrison's "The Antiquities," running at the Goodman Theatre, through June 1, AI is intent on obliterating the human race. The production starts in 1816, as Mary Shelley creates a monster intent on murdering his creator. From there, Harrison's drama (full name: "A Tour of the Permanent Collection in the Museum of Late Human Antiquities") hurtles through time and space as it covers more than 2,000 years between 1816 and 2240."

Daily Herald - Highly Recommended

"...From curtain up to curtain call, "The Antiquities" - Jordan Harrison's centuries-spanning, sci-fi tale about artificial intelligence wreaking havoc on humanity - runs 95 intermissionless minutes."

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Harrison's play, codirected at the Goodman by Caitlin Sullivan and former Chicagoan David Cromer, opened earlier this year at Playwrights Horizons in New York. And though Harrison began working on it in 2019, there's no question that it's one of the timeliest shows you'll see right now. Whether it's last week's news about the Trump/Musk administration's (at least temporarily thwarted) attempts to take over the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office (which many of us suspect was an end run around copyright protections in order to feed the commercial AI beast), or ongoing anxiety about the environmental and ethical impacts of AI, there are plenty of ripped-from-the-headlines resonances in Harrison's story."

Talkin Broadway - Recommended

"...The Goodman Theatre, in a co-production with Playwrights Horizons and Vineyard Theatre, is presenting the world premiere of Jordan Harrison's A Tour of the Permanent Collection in the Museum of Late Human Antiquities (aka The Antiquities). Co-Directed by David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan, a cast of nine inhabits forty-seven distinct characters whose stories span some four hundred years, from Mary Shelley's invention of the genre of science fiction to a post-technology (for humans, at least) future. Although not every moment of the play lands squarely, it is to the overall credit of both play and production that the vast majority do, and the work is thought-provoking enough to leave one to wonder if every last one might do just what it was supposed to on subsequent viewings."

Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Recommended

"...Theatre Goodman's play The Antiquities is an interesting sci-fi story about how people feel excited and scared about artificial intelligence taking control while raising important questions about how technology affects our lives. Even the Pope, Leo XIV, Robert Francis Prevost, has expressed his concerns about AI, which Goodman should heavenly exploit."

Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended

"...This is a strangely unsettling play that audiences may either love or hate. While there are some moments of dark humor, the vignettes are often harsh and difficult to watch. Many of the stories presented are either sad or grim, but definitely thought-provoking. In addition to some deeply poignant scenes, however, there are two strangely incongruous moments that feel out of place. They feature characters performing sex acts that neither advance the theme nor feel they belong here. They only serve to shock."

Buzz Center Stage - Highly Recommended

"...Harrison's thought-provoking and groundbreaking work is making its world debut at the Goodman Theatre as a co-production between the Goodman, Playwrights Horizons, and Vineyard Theatre, following a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run. The Antiquities has been hailed as "the finest new play of the season" by the Wall Street Journal and has earned "Best New Play/Production" nominations by the Lucille Lortel, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle Awards."

Third Coast Review - Recommended

"...The Antiquities at Goodman Theatre is a panorama of human invention and storytelling beginning in the 19th century and continuing into the 23rd century, when humans may be .extinct. These scenes from the future, designed to light up the present, make up the new play by Jordan Harrison (Marjorie Prime). Its full title is A Tour of the Permanent Collection in the Museum of Late Human Antiquities or, just The Antiquities."

Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended

"...The Antiquities is an unsettling play, but it's not a hopeless one. Ironically, the English word "technology" is derived from the Greek techne, which meant "art." Art is the only thing that makes life worth living, and no matter what anybody tells you, a machine will never be able to make it out of a line of code."

PicksInSix - Highly Recommended

"..."The Antiquities," written by Pulitzer Prize nominee Jordan Harrison and running downtown at the Goodman's Owen Theatre through June 1, is a fascinating piece that takes us on a proverbial journey through time and space in a unique way. It considers the potential that all our technological wonders might eventually take over the earth and leave humanity wondering-as it often does-what happened."

BroadwayWorld - Recommended

"...Harrison's exploration of A.I.'s ramifications were enough to make my head spin, but the forecasting ranged in impact. The near-future scenes are simultaneously playful and creepy with a specific sense of time and place (though I don't anticipate in six years that actors like the one Sieh plays in the scene will yet have plastic surgery to appear "more human" - we're definitely still in our homogenized beauty standards era.) The specificity and oddness of Harrison's ideas, though, are tangible."

NewCity Chicago - Recommended

"...Co-directed by Caitlin Sullivan and David Cromer and playing for a brisk ninety-five minutes without intermission, the scenes are performed by nine actors playing forty-seven characters. This sounds like too much and yet isn't, because the actors are all so good, and because the scenes are bound together both by technology's creeping menace and by common themes of sorrow and longing. You care about these people, however briefly you know them. They are us-a woman who lost her baby, a gay man dying of what was likely AIDS, a mom who wants to go to Paris, a writer wondering if she can still work."