History: Reviews

• The Caretaker

  "...a uniquely profound piece of delicate and intense theater. If restraint is what makes the artists, these are masters at work. This rare and wonderful accomplishment will linger with you long after the play is over."

• The Madelyn Trilogy

  "O'Reilly has a unique feeling for the weird yet lyrical: he steps outside the bounds of reality yet remains within the confines of the human heart."

• Waiting for Godot

  "The father-and-son O'Reillys and the rest of the razor-sharp cast demonstrate their reverence for Beckett in the best possible way: by creating a crisp, vibrantly contemporary vision of the play."

• My Name Is Mudd

  "Anchored by Guy Massey's acid portrayal of Booth as a preening ham who accentuates every syllable, Reddy's cast gleefully delivers his raucous slide show/lecture/sucker punch to the entire American educational system."

• Love Horse

  "This is a carefully calibrated, exhilaratingly performed piece that takes audiences to their threshold for disorientation and delivers insight into identity, passion, pain, and the power of science."

• Influenza and the Misapplication of Cold Cream

  "...the tenuous interplay between the man and his female companion is vintage Curious theater—open-ended and fraught with obstacles...."

• Round & Round: a sexfarcetragedy

  "...a taut, funny, but finally mournful look at the power struggles and games played out in relationships."

• Whiskey in Blue

  "O'Reilly remains astonishingly adept at painting pictures with words, but what distinguishes Whiskey in Blue is its emphasis on tone...."

• Not Only Sleeping

  "...as a portrait of a man coming to terms with his own grief and loss, Not Only Sleeping is riveting."

• The Lucky Ones

  "...two formally attired nameless men of disparate ages meet in an unspecified location and help each other through a protracted farewell. It's a simple encounter with profound repercussions...."

• Talking About Godard

  "...as thought provoking and engrossing as anything to hit Chicago stages this year."

• The Strange

  "The world these artists create has the kind of towering hyperreality we experience only at three o'clock in the morning—upon awakening in a cold sweat."

• Small Together

  "Part Faustian allegory, part anticorporate screed, and part critique of the American family unit, the work concerns a trio of misfits united by their love and worship of one woman..."

• Crowtown

  "...myths, magic, nonlinear or eccentric storytelling, the tightness of tribes, and the inevitable violence that erupts when they come into contact with other clans with different worldviews."

• Illustrious Bloodspill

  "...a catalog of facial expressions denoting hate, fear, and agony performed by an otherwise immobile lineup and a one-against-hundreds battle in which the hero has only to scowl to repel an attacker."

• The Third Degrees of J.O. Breeze

  "Clean, spare, and electrifying, J.O. Breeze builds in intensity and intricacy the way the best of David Mamet's plays do."

• Loser's Alias

  "What other company would attempt to recreate a B-movie car chase using only toy cars lit by flashlights?"

• Let the Dolly Do the Work

  "Perhaps even more important than O'Reilly's comic talent is his great capacity for empathy. His characters are endearing even at their most unattractive...."

• Dwarfed by Comparison

  "O'Reilly's warring theatrical styles create an accurate picture of family life: one moment an outrageous comedy, the next a made-for-TV movie."

• Natural Hostages

  "...so full of fascinating ideas, beguiling characters, and beautiful images—and so hysterically funny from start to finish—that its quasi-operatic two-and-a-half-hour staging can hardly contain the magnificence."

• Dying Is Private: The Satch & Mo Play

  "O'Reilly effectively conveys Satch and Mo's fear and loneliness as they lie in bed together at night, and contrasts these feelings with their rituals of denial during the day...."

• Looking Through Two Johnnies

  "Magnus and O'Reilly have infused Looking Through Two Johnnies with wonderful verbal imagery and some powerful insights into the way people deal with war on a personal level."

• Madras Parables

  "Hard to believe, but this may very well be a genuine work of the elusive avant-garde."

• Evil Triggers Down Amateur Street

  "In lieu of realism, O'Reilly is after a rich, multilayered work having more in common with Thomas Pynchon than David Mamet."

• Careening Is a Skill: Estranged Musicale

  "Careening Is a Skill might best be described as a Zippy cartoon set to music: what at first seems a plainly warped story of an insane asylum eventually has you laughing and wondering who the real crazies are."