Chicago Tribune
- Highly Recommended
"...Fromm directs the heck out of what could easily come off as a dry, pat and talky script. She avoids too much clutter in the physical environment (the simple but savvy peninsula of a set is by Colette Pollard), and her casting here is really superb; the two actresses forge characters that feel both thoroughly oppositional and joined at the hip, which is exactly what the script demands."
Chicago Sun Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The essential problems at work here are apparent right from the opening scene as the girlish Rachel Hardeman (Ledo), a 28-year-old post-doctoral student from New York University, nervously enters the handsome office of senior professor Zelda Kahn (Brooks) in Cambridge, Mass. It is a tense meeting on both sides (we will discover why later), and not at all professional, though perhaps designed to suggest that two women might interact in different ways than two men."
Chicago Reader
- Recommended
"...Treem makes the most and more of her familiar tropes, delivering a smart, vital piece of work that accesses the thrill you get listening to the banter of terribly erudite people in plays like Alan Bennett's The History Boys, while also-again, a la Bennett-warming your heart. Not least of all, it provides a canny portrait of second- and third-wave feminism confronting each other across the chasm of a generation and the width of a mahogany desk."
Windy City Times
- Recommended
"...One of these is the chewy repartee Breem has penned in explication of genuinely revolutionary manifestos for the dream team of Janet Ulrich Brooks and Elizabeth Ledo to volley with an ease rendering the arcane jargon immediately comprehensible to the most slackerly quiz-dodger. Keira Fromm wisely keeps her direction muted, as does Collette Pollard and Alison Siple the scenic and costume design ( although Rachel's Lolita-grunge garb seems excessively adolescent for a braniac in her late 20s ). In the end, however, whatever femme reassurance may have been necessary to bring Zelda and Rachel's stories the recognition they deserve is more than redeemed by the discoveries ushered in thereby."
Time Out Chicago
- Recommended
"...Ledo has the harder sell with Rachel, the potentially brilliant but heedless youth. Though the reasons behind her mistrust of Zelda’s mentorship eventually become clear, it’s hard not to see her every impulse as self-defeating. And for such a gifted scientist, Rachel's slower than I was at connecting certain dots. I sense we’re meant to be shifting allegiances continually as Treem’s revelation-packed plot unfolds, but the playwright seems to be firmly on the side of sage experience."
Chicago On the Aisle
- Recommended
"...Director Keira Fromm keeps these sparring partners bobbing and weaving - with Rachel occasionally throwing a fast combination to the head - on two expressive sets devised by Collette Pollard. Rachel the newbie enters the academic citadel that is Zelda's office; later, when the two scientists meet again, it's on leveled ground, a bar where you can get anything you want to eat as long as it's popcorn."
Stage and Cinema
- Recommended
"...Happily, for these well-matched, intensely centered actors, The How and the Why is much more than an emotional debate—it’s a tour de coeur: Brooks’ assertive confidence (even in defense mode) is a tonic to Ledo’s vulnerable searcher, a daughter whose hunger for more is a force in itself. And it’s refreshing to see a play that knows how to do without men. Just don’t ask why."
Groupon
- Highly Recommended
"...Director Keira Fromm’s blocking further emphasizes the division between the two women’s divide—and their first steps toward connection. At first, Rachel often moves or looks away after an accusation or argument, while Zelda keeps her gaze fixed. But as things progress and the two grow closer, Rachel grows able to look her colleague in the eye. Collette Pollard’s set gives them plenty of room to flee and come toward each other, with minimal furniture and a thrust that extends into the audience. But regardless of Rachel and Zelda’s frequent disconnect, The How and the Why presents them as two brilliant minds who use their work as a means to run from their personal struggles. They just run in different directions."
ChicagoCritic
- Recommended
"...Janet Ulrich Brooks and Elizabeth Ledo are nicely matched here. Brooks’ command of the stage is challenged by the strong performance by Ledo. She is doing her finest dramatic work to date in this. These two talents spar evenly as each strives to top the other. This is a new twist on the role of women in science. It is intelligent and timely."
Chicago Stage and Screen
- Somewhat Recommended
"...The How and the Why arrives with impeccable pedigree, and no doubt it is taking regional theaters by storm. It may be an interesting read when you have time to fully comprehend the science. But I came away hungry for action, emotion, and connection that would have made me care more about that ever elusive ‘why.’"
Around The Town Chicago
- Highly Recommended
"...TimeLine Theatre Company, the little theater that roars when it comes to quality productions has done it again! Another solid production on their intimate stage located at 615 W. Wellington ( at Broadway). The show, a two woman show written by Sarah Teem and skillfully directed by Keira Fromm. Yes, it is an all female production, but is in no way a "feminist play". The story deal with two women, both scientists, who meet for the first time the night before a large national conference is about to take place. Both of these women are brilliant biologists trying to gain success in a field that has always been male dominated."
Chicago Theatre Review
- Recommended
"...TimeLine company member and multi-Jeff Award nominee Janet Ulrich Brooks delivers yet another excellent performance as Zelda. Ms. Brooks grounds the play and keeps it on course. She's the purveyor of information as well as the calm voice of reason against Elizabeth Ledo's volatile Rachel. Whenever Ledo's multi-layered Rachel loses her temper and is about to terminate their relationship, it's Brooks who grabs hold and refuses to let go. These two exemplary actors are extraordinary in this love match, a struggle of wills that provides a masterclass in acting, which is the best reason for seeing this play."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews
- Recommended
"...Even if “The How and the Why” is too densely textured, its dialogue still crackles in the mouths of the two perfectly matched performers, Brooks with her cool and Ledo with her volatility. The science part of the play is adult in the best sense of that much abused word. It’s not a perfect play but two hours of strong and resourceful acting are reward enough to recommend the show."
The Fourth Walsh
- Highly Recommended
"...Throughout the show, Treem keeps our attention by throwing out the occasional nugget of truth. We are in the how. And at pivotal points -right up until the ending, Treem answers why. These regular epiphanies keep the evolving story riveting. Four reasons to see THE HOW AND THE WHY: Treem, Fromm, Brooks and Ledo. This fierce female foursome knows how to put on a show."
