Chicago Tribune
- Somewhat Recommended
"...Joelle is a talented writer and there is certainly a need for a script clearly designed to show that we’re all not as different as we think. “The Garbologists,” which has had just a couple of previous productions and likely would make a good TV pilot, also is courageous enough to probe the intersection of race and class, which is hard enough to do that many young playwrights avoid the challenge."
Chicago Reader
- Recommended
"...Lindsay Joelle's The Garbologists, now in a local premiere at Northlight under Cody Estle's direction, is a slice-of-life two-hander about an odd-couple pair of New York sanitation workers. Marlowe (Tiffany Renee Johnson) is a Black woman with multiple degrees in art history from Columbia. Danny (Luigi Sottile) is a brash motormouth white man from Staten Island, bent on showing off his street smarts to the new hire with garbage-collector inside jokes about "disco rice" (maggots) and "urban whitefish" (used condoms), as well as "mongo" (the trash that the collectors repurpose for themselves; one of those items becomes a plot point)."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Highly Recommended
"...Director Cody Estle has given us a chance to really like these characters, and set designer Collette Pollard has created a world both gritty and compelling for us to experience– you can almost smell the mountain of trash. The two part garbage truck is a stage design engineering triumph."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews
- Highly Recommended
"...Northlight Theatre's very intriguing, emotional, and touching play The Garbologists paired two garbage workers, Ivy League-educated newly hired Marlowe (Tiffany Renee Johnson) and Danny (Luigi Sottile). Danny, a white, blue-collar worker, who has difficulties communicating with others, starts their relationship by mansplainer Marlowe the job, even though she passed all of the courses with flying colors. Naturally, this causes apprehension between the two. Still, as they continuously work together, they form a bond through a life lost, a life destroyed, and one person is given an extra life to live."
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...Garbage! Why would anyone write a play where the main characters are “garbage men” ( excuse the gender bender, but I know not what else one might call them). In fact, does anyone recall a character in any main stream play or movie or even a TV show where one of the main guys is a “garbage man”?. Of course you do. Ed Norton! The upstairs neighbor and best buddy to Ralph Kramden on “The Honeymooners”. Now, Lindsay Joelle has written a play, albeit a short one ( 88 minutes) called “The Garbologists” now onstage at Northlight Theatre. Ms Joelle is a native of the North Shore so it is fitting that a play of hers be produced on one of our North Shore stages."
WTTW
- Highly Recommended
"...It is a bit tricky to write about “The Garbologists,” the engaging, sharply written, and cleverly titled two-character play by Lindsay Joelle now receiving its first professional production by Northlight Theatre. And the reason for that is easy to explain. For by revealing the personal problems of the experienced garbageman and the new-to-the-job woman who has just been assigned as his partner, is to give away a great deal of the story."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Highly Recommended
"...This is a warmly wonderful production of a surprisingly humane and honest play that’s filled with as much laughter as it is drama. There are times when the audience is howling with laughter; but then, just as suddenly, the house falls silent as we learn more poignant facts about the characters. Marlowe and Danny are fully revealed to us in these interludes. These two mismatched partners gradually get to know each other and, in doing so, find that they have more in common than they at first realized. This Buddy Play reminds us that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. We learn that if given a tattered, grimy old volume of text and illustrations, and you take the time to examine it carefully, its value can exceed your imagination."
Picture This Post
- Recommended
"...Directed by Cody Estle, The Garbologists is at its heart a comedy. The clashing personalities of Danny and Marlowe make for hilarious moments that left this opening night audience cracking up for minutes at a time - not unlike the dildo scene described above. However, Joelle's story also creates space for you to get to know the depths of these characters - making for some intimate, heartfelt moments in the midst of the comedy. Sottile and Johnson bring that balance to life and if you are anything like this writer, you may just find yourself leaning in, hoping that friendship succeeds."
Splash Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...Walking in to the theater garbage trucks and garbage bags were in place against a New York skyline. Before long two workers filled the cab of the truck. Tiffany Renee Johnson is Marlowe, a newbie, her first day on the job wanting to put into action what she has learned and practiced. Luigi Sottile isDanny who has been on the job several years. He is busy telling Marlowe how things are done. The two workers riding in the cab of the garbage trick this day are seemingly very different."
NewCity Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...Northlight Theatre opens their 2022-23 season with a well-crafted and perfectly executed two-handed comedy that is not afraid to dive deep into the delicate art of sanitation management. A buddy comedy at heart, “The Garbologists,” written by Lindsay Joelle, features the most unlikely of pairings forced to work together in order to literally clean up New York City. The veteran of the two, Danny (Luigi Sottile), is a hot-headed, obnoxious and possibly dangerous divorced white middle-ager who mansplains with the best of them."
