Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...All of these performers, as led by the indefatigable Brown, a Chicago treasure, are very funny throughout. There’s a lot of diversity of comic styles, too, ranging from Jones’ zany antics to Rivers’ physical comedy to Butler’s fulsome embrace of her Lady Bracknell-like character. Abercrumbie offers the edgiest performance, as befits her character: it’s an empathetic turn, and it does a good deal to deepen the largely situational action."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Directed by Lili-Anne Brown at the Goodman Theatre, the production is bursting at its seams with intrigue, romance and comedy. It is also a nuanced, fraught and incongruously hilarious exploration of class privilege, generational wealth and family betrayal."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...The Nacirema Society, Goodman’s season opener and main contribution to the Cleage Festival, is set in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1964. (Susan V. Booth, now the Goodman artistic director and formerly artistic director of Alliance, directed the first productions at Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Alliance in 2010; Lili-Anne Brown does the honors for the Goodman.)"
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...Goodman Theatre's The Nacirema Society is considered a romantic comedy, is the creme de la creme of theater, and is deliciously entertaining. The critically praised and best-selling author (What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day) novelist, activist, and playwright Pearl Cleage, who currently has another one of her top plays featured at Remy Bumppo Theatre via Theater Wit, Blues for an Alabama Sky, masterfully brings the audience into this engaging and enthralling production that will have you excessively laughing throughout. Cleage provides us with the full title of her play: The Nacirema Society invites you to a celebration of their first 100 years; however, she noted that it was too lengthy, thus shortening it to The Nacirema Society."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...The casting is truly perfect. If Norman Lear wanted to produce a new sit-com that would speak to gender, race, and class, all encased in a classic plot of family ills, he could do no better than this production and the words of Ms Cleage."
Chicago Theatre Review - Highly Recommended
"...As part of Chicago’s citywide celebration of all things Pearl Cleage, “The Nacirema Society” is a textbook example of how theatre can both entertain, enlighten and educate the audience. The farcical comedy is filled with witty dialogue, extraordinary characters portrayed by a cast of brilliant actors, providing plenty of laughs and just a modicum of drama. To delight the senses there’s a banquet of beauty to behold, thanks to a brilliant creative team of talented theatre artists. But there’s also some not-so-subtle social commentary to give theatergoers something to discuss on the way home. The Goodman Theatre once again has given Chicago audiences a winner that’ll be talked about for years to come."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...Cleage's is work is known for its sharp wit, and insightful commentary. “The Nacirema Society” shows her ability to combine humor with social critique. It is a thought-provoking look at the dynamics of a specific segment of African American society all wrapped up in a romantic comedy. Lili-Anne Brown did a fantastic job directing this situational comedy, she keeps the ball and the tension in the air, and despite the running time, makes us forget about the worries in the world, exactly what a comedy should do."
PicksInSix - Highly Recommended
"...Expect the unexpected in the Chicago premiere of Pearl Cleage's extravagant and absurd comedy, "The Nacirema Society." The play shines as the opener of Susan Booth's first curated season as Goodman Theatre's Artistic Director and as a joyous and nuanced exploration of how class, family tradition, honor, privilege, young love, ambition and social responsibility all present in everyday life. These themes mixed with over-the-top drama sets the stage for big gasps and even bigger laughs. Grab a glass of sherry, sit back and welcome to the lavish home of Grace Dubose Dunbar."
MaraTapp.org - Highly Recommended
"...It’s hard to imagine a more deliciously wicked play that will have you laughing even as it tackles issues of gender, race and class with the snappiness, sensitivity and candor one expects from Playwright Pearl Cleage so accept the invitation from the members of The Nacirema Society and enjoy the antics of some of the most talented Black actors now working in Chicago."
Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended
"...The Goodman Theatre opens its 2023/2024 season with The Nacirema Society, written by Pearl Cleage and directed by Lili-Anne Brown. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1964, the Dunbar family prepares for the centennial cotillion of the Nacirema Society, a social club for well-to-do African American women. Under the surface, however, trouble is brewing, and the result is a rip-roaringly funny play that examines social class and the role of history in our everyday lives even as it strikes a lighthearted tone."
NewCity Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Lili-Anne Brown does her best to keep things moving, a daunting task in a play that packs in a season’s worth of TV-series plot developments into a single evening of theater. The script would benefit from red-pencil work, shortening and simplifying the action. The sheer quantity of narrative keeps the characters from ripening and deepening over the course of the show. Simple adjectives—Domineering, Vindictive, Romantic, Ditsy—describe the roles all too thoroughly."
