Until The Flood Reviews

Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended

"...Rhoze’s direction offers a brisk yet thoughtful staging of Orlandersmith’s profound script. Fleetwood-Jourdain’s work here should not be missed."

Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended

"...As directed by Tim Rhoze, the transitions between monologues are powerful and potent. As the entering character’s story begins, the exiting character, pauses to pay witness to them before moving on. The effect reminded me of a roving camera that after pausing for a long closeup shot, suddenly pans away to focus on a fresh subject and story angle."

Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended

"...Until the Flood” is the pinnacle of perfection! This two-hander, written by Dael Orlandersmith, is one of the best shows I’ve seen all year! The play consists of a series of nine personal accounts taken from actual interviews of people from Ferguson, Missouri, and the St. Louis area just after the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014. The monologues are raw and heartfelt; and taken together, the story is powerful and memorable."

MaraTapp.org - Highly Recommended

"...Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Tim Rhoze, himself a fine actor, directs Pryor and Robertson with his usual genius, reimagining the one-woman Until the Flood with two actors and allowing each to fully inhabit their characters. Sets at Fleetwood-Jourdain are always a visual treat. This one, designed by Rhoze and Technical Director Shane Rogers, is no exception. The spontaneous shrine of flowers, photos, remembrances and stuffed animals with which we are now all too familiar, forms a hill in front of a powerful mural with black bodies and phrases from the protests."

Evanston Roundtable - Recommended

"...But there’s no question that the script of Until the Flood is gripping and so important. Police shootings of young Black men have been repeated so many times that it’s too easy to become numb to them and dismiss their horrific personal impact. This performance is one of those productions that could go right for your gut and keep you enthralled, but it might leave you wishing it had been delivered in a more conventional dramatic style."

Splash Magazine - Highly Recommended

"..."Hands Up Don't Shoot." The words are emblazoned into the curtain that frames the stage for Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre's riveting production of Until The Flood at Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston through November 10. It's a documentary-style play for which acclaimed playwright and actor Dael Orlandersmith created eight composite characters from interviews with many locals affected by the shooting and subsequent weeks of unrest. The play was commissioned by the St. Louis Repertory Theater, and in its earliest productions beginning in 2016, Orlandersmith played all eight characters."