The Pull Toy (and his Paisan) presented by CollaborAction at Chicago Dramatists

Chicago Tribune - Not Recommended

"...Despite its truly bizarre and incomprehensible title, "The Pull Toy (and His Paisan)," a new play by Chicago playwright Robert McEwan, actually is a trite, dull and moralistic comic yarn about bullying and ethnic cliques in a 1965 New York high school. It traffics mostly in the obvious, and dispenses its predictable plot with the speed of a Sicilian snail."

Chicago Sun Times - Not Recommended

"...Maybe, just maybe, Robert McEwen's new play, "The Pull Toy (and His Paisan)," might find a place for itself on the junior high school circuit. Perhaps it could be used as a "sensitivity training tool" there -- part of a program designed to counter the bullying and other nasty behavior that has long been endemic to that age group but seems to have grown ever more hateful in recent years. However, as an adult offering by Collaboraction, an ordinarily inspired, cutting edge theater troupe, it fails completely."

Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended

"...The script, an ultraslight refugee from the Happy Days rejection pile, has a straight-arrow school principal on the trail of a football squad thug who's brutalized a nerd in a homophobia-charged locker-room encounter. Justice, official and otherwise, prevails; in the process, three more excruciatingly familiar stereotypes get dusted off and trotted out. The talented cast work overtime to punch their way out of these limited roles, but to no avail."

Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended

"...Under Moseley’s admirably controlled direction—he gets calibrated performances from all of his actors and keeps the action, including a few bursts of violence, carefully measured—the play keeps you engaged, but mostly because it seems to promise a surprise that never comes."