Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...Do you need to care about the circus to appreciate “The Attic”? I suppose it helps, but no, you don’t. It’s a show about when to embrace a whole and when to leave. It struck me as a piece with a lot to say to anyone wondering whether to leave a job, or to retire, or to move in a whole new direction. And to anyone facing a health crisis and loving someone who must."
Chicago Reader
- Highly Recommended
"...I’ve said it before: It’s not easy to authentically weave circus into narrative, or narrative into circus. In fact, it’s often the central problem being discussed in contemporary circus circles. The classic work-around you’ll see for that is to make circus the theme. In this sense, The Attic, written, directed, and choreographed (as you do in circus) by Shana Carroll, is no different. Its premise is framing the whole show around the line “I fell once,” and the subsequent examples of things the narrator has seen while lying on her back after life’s many blows."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...A tip of the hat to the entire cast of amazing performance artists: Nancy Luna, Santiago Rivera Laugerud, Lucy Tan, Alexandra Royer, Kalani June, Eduardo De Azevedo Grillo, Melvin Diggs, Fran Alvarez ( Mr. Muscles) , and of course, Ms. Kichtchenko and Ms. Meredith. They are all amazing talents, doing their thing, and doing it exceedingly well!"
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...Mere words can’t do justice to the majesty of this awesome and astounding production. Standing ovations always seem to be de rigueur these days, following pretty much every concert or theatrical event. But THE ATTIC most definitely deserves to receive the greatest praise possible. The superb, ten cast members have trained and constantly work their muscular limbs and svelte bodies to the max. The result is an extraordinary true story that portrays the highs and lows, the drama and comedy, of Shana Carroll’s turbulent life. By the final scene, the recurring phrase, “Things I’ve seen while lying on my back,” which is also the play’s subtitle, is no longer a mystery. And the story’s other recurring line, “I fell once,” means so much more by the end of this stirring production. Do not miss THE ATTIC, because Goodman’s production is perfectly and profoundly taking theatre to new heights."
The Fourth Walsh
- Highly Recommended
"...Childhood. Trapeze. Lover. Miscarriage. Birth. A Fall. Cancer. A woman remembers her life from her bed at pivotal moments. From dreaming of swinging from the rafters to actually floating-through-the-air as an aerialist, the Tony Award-nominated former trapezist Shana Carroll reimagines her story laying on her back. Carroll, the co-founding Artistic Director of The 7 Fingers, debuts her memoir in her favorite storytelling genre: a circus-theatre-dance-musical-hybrid."
Third Coast Review
- Highly Recommended
"...Goodman Theatre opens the world premiere ofThe Attic as the' first play of the company's second century as an organization. Former trapeze artist and Tony-nominated choreographer Shana Carroll co-founded the 7 Fingers, an art collective which Time Out New York has praised for its "thrillingly modern brand of circus." What is brought to the Albert Theatre is a spectacle of wonder and imagination that will produce gasps and cheers from the audience."
Entertaining Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...An extraordinary fusion of storytelling, dance, aerial artistry, music, and visual spectacle, The Attic: Things I’ve Seen While Lying On My Back turns one woman’s life into a theatrical experience so full of movement and invention that you won’t want to look away."
Chicago On Stage
- Highly Recommended
"...My friend Delia looked at me as we waited for our Lyft outside the Goodman Theatre, and said she didn’t envy me for having to review The Attic: Things I’ve Seen While Lying on My Back. I told her I was tempted to title the review simply “WOW!” and make it entirely a compendium of superlatives. And, though I have obviously chosen a different tactic, that might have proven a perfect way to let you know the one essential truth I need to convey: this is a phenomenal production unlike anything you have ever seen; miss it at your own peril, as it will be talked about for years to come."
PicksInSix
- Highly Recommended
"...Written, directed and choreographed by former Cirque du Soleil soloist Shana Carroll, “The Attic” asks the audience to confront mortality while immersed in a glorious, gravity-defying celebration of life. Carroll’s autobiographical story moves from infancy through adolescence, to career and childbirth and ultimately to a medical diagnosis of staggering implications. The narrative is as breathtaking as the extraordinary aerialists, hoop divers, acrobats, jugglers and contortionists telling it."
Curtain Call Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"..."The Attic Things I've Seen While Lying on My Back" is an astonishing work: tender in its attention to private grief, playful in its imagination, and ultimately powerful in the way it gives shape to the things we carry in us when language alone is insufficient to do so. Created by Shana Carroll, with music composition and direction by Colin Gagne, the piece is not a conventional play by any means, but more of an invitation into the hidden architecture of memory-those strange, tender rooms of the mind where loss, wonder, fear, and love coexist."
Chicago Culture Authority
- Highly Recommended
"...An impressionistic memoir of a life on the trapeze and far beyond, The Attic: Things I've Seen While Lying on My Back creates such an engaging vibe at the Goodman Theatre that you leave wanting to know a lot more about writer, director and choreographer Shana Carroll."
Splash Magazine
- Recommended
"...What happens when memories refuse to remain still? They dance. They soar. They collide. And sometimes, they all demand your attention at once. That is the experience of The Attic: Things I've Seen While Lying on My Back, an imaginative production from Montreal's acclaimed contemporary circus company The 7 Fingers, presented at Chicago's Goodman Theatre."
Allie and the After Party
- Highly Recommended
"...Written, directed, and choreographed by award winning artist, Shana Carroll, The Attic takes us through moments in her life as her theatrical memoir. Every moment is shown through a different type of circus art form from aerialists to clowning and has every audience member mesmerized by the images and emotions they create."
