Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"..."The Displaced" leaves us wondering how much is literal and how much is imagined in this world. Is the anger and sense of displacement seeping out from the walls of Lev and Marisa's home a product of social unrest and injustice? Is it something carried deep within their own memories and dreams? Or is it an unholy alliance of both, driving them toward an ever-darker place they cannot escape by merely wishing it away? Whatever the answer, the show leaves a haunting mark on the psyche."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Haven Theatre’s world premiere is a rip-roaring, hair-raising horror story that’ll have you clutching for the person next to you, even if you have not previously met. Stark terror in confined spaces has a way of engendering unanticipated introductions."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Rodriguez is spellbinding as Marisa, mixing humor and emotion as her internal psyche and external circumstances begin to unravel. Arnel Sancianco's scenic design provides a spooky backdrop, including an upstage, closed door that's positively frightening."
Time Out Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...I’d use just one word to sum up the opening-night audience’s reaction to Isaac Gomez’s terrifying new drama, The Displaced: Nope. It’s a word that means the speaker is rejecting the events happening in front of them. And while for many shows, that sentiment might indicate a bad time, it means something entirely different for this horror play. It’s what people say when they want to run and hide, because what they’re witnessing is so freaking scary."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...The perils of gentrification are explosive in this comic horror story by Haven Theatre, directed by Jo Cattell. Playwright Isaac Gomez sets his play in Pilsen, where new owners Marisa (Karen Rodriguez) and Lev (Rashaad Hall) have just moved into their apartment in an old building. They've been together for two years and they're still working out their relationship."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...Karen Rodriguez's Marisa is the cherry on top of the production. Those looking for actors that portray a real relationship can find it in The Displaced, and Rashaad Hall's more grounded approach is complemented by Rodriguez's adorable teases and tickles. Anyone who's ever goo-goo-gah-gahed with their significant other will appreciate Rodriguez's performance all the more. However, the transformation that Marisa goes through toward the end of the show is something different entirely. Bubbly becomes a calculated belligerent, and the audience is left wondering and worrying where Marisa has gone."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...The displaced make themselves known indirectly—at first with flickering lights, weird smells, and pictures that won’t stay on the walls, then more aggressively with a form of possession that mixes kitschy horror flick effects with ritually slaughtered chickens—as Gomez presents a world in which the displaced, though unseen, can still be felt."
