The Long Christmas Ride Home at Noyes Cultural Arts Center

Chicago Tribune - Recommended

"...If it's unalloyed holiday cheer you want, "The Long Christmas Ride Home" is not your vehicle. It offers something richer. The 2003 play by Paula Vogel, making a strong area premiere at the Next Theatre Company, reminds us that children listen and learn, whether from the vantage of the back seat of an automobile or, later, from the hindsight of adulthood. It reminds us that toxic arguments have a half-life lasting a human lifetime. And it proves there is variety yet in the realm of the family drama."

Chicago Sun Times - Recommended

"...director Jason Loewith's production of the work at Evanston's Next Theatre is impeccable -- from its casting, to its visual and aural appeal, to, above all, the contributions of master puppet designer Michael Montenegro, who has created some of the more heartbreakingly tender (as well as some of the most decidedly X-rated) puppet characters you may ever encounter. And Vogel's writing, especially in its first half, lurches impressively from the lyrical to the fearsomely slicing."

Time Out Chicago - Recommended

"...while her [playwright Paula Vogel] bracing tale of an ill-fated family holiday in 1970 might not fill you with yuletide faith, it will fill you with faith in the theater....Vogel's heart- a heart that wants nothing more than to find the safety of riding in your parents' back seat- will keep you warm all einter."

ChicagoCritic - Recommended

"...The Long Christmas Ride Home is not a children’s show, rather an adult mystical tale. It is refreshing to see such a complex show produced so effectively. Kudos to director Jason Loewith for his passion and determination to offer us such a fine holiday gift."