Reviews and articles...
For Assistance
Director Joshua Aaron Weinstein's punchy, intriguing staging for LiveWire raises all the right questions. - Chicago Reader
Joshua Aaron Weinstein’s detailed and focused staging. - Chicago Theater Beat
For A Permanent Image
Director Joshua Aaron Weinstein's production is careful and truthful enough to really catch this crucial tension. - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
Director Joshua Aaron Weinstein and an ensemble of actors so closely attuned to one another that they actually seem the product of a single household likewise refuse to wallow in bathos or condescension, but instead present their arguments with an articulate dignity that commands our respect, if not our unmitigated approval. - Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City Times
Joshua Weinstein directed this unmissable production for LiveWire Chicago Theatre - Keith Griffith, Chicago Reader
Directed with a keen eye for daily living by Joshua Aaron Weinstein - Johnny Oleksinski, Newcity Stage
Weinstein holds the reigns tight on this intense and lingering family drama. A Permanent Image is darkly compelling and potentially life altering. - Katy Walsh, Chicago Theater Beat
For A Bright New Boise
LiveWire’s latest takes an unflinching look at the price of belief, suggesting that you win if you can just believe in something. - Lisa Buscani, Newcity Stage
A fair-minded analysis of what draws lost souls to extreme religion and the delicacy of connection... Earnest performances and an eye-catching set (Jacobson and Radovsky's set is a work of realist modern art) lend to a thoughtful interpretation. - Lauren Whalen, Chicago Theater Beat
In a strong central performance, Hickey depicts a man tortured by the thing that is also his greatest happiness... As aggressive, foul-mouthed store manager Pauline, Allison Cain layers in a genuine sense of pride that shows the character’s dedication to her work. - Oliver Sava, Time Out Chicago
For Short Straw
Also notable is Bilal Dardai's The Short Straw, about a man forced to execute his brother. - Keith Griffith, Chicago Reader
For Lower Debt
...muscularly poetic dialogue... - Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader
For Lower Debt - Workshop
Some of the questions that director Joshua Aaron Weinstein asked in an earlier blog: "What about this play inspires you? What doesn't? What characters do you connect with, and which do you not care about? How does the language of the play feel to you?" really helped fuel the discussion last night after seeing the work-shopped version of "Lower Debt". After a well-paced, thoughtful and language filled hour and fifteen minutes of "Lower Debt", the audience readily stayed in their seats to talk about what they had just seen, and to offer feedback about the changes that could be made before LiveWire Chicago Theatre launches a fully produced version in Spring 2010.
The event was presented as a part of INCUBATOR, a series designed to support the creation of new work by emerging Chicago theater companies. Utilizing Chicago DCA Theater space and resources, participants explore new projects, develop and refine styles, and share their process with the public during a special showcase event.
- DCA Theater, "LiveWire Theatre captivates audience with a modern Everyman tale"
For VisionFest 2009
Joshua Weinstein's droll introductions turn out to be the liveliest and most honest part of the evening. - Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader
For Red Angel
*** Director Joshua Aaron Weinstein calibrates the tension just so... this LiveWire production has it nailed. - Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune
Reader Recommended Joshua Aaron Weinstein's thoughtful and calibrated production in the tiny Side [Project] space (made to feel much more expansive by Anders Jacobson's terrific book-lined set) teases out the tensions with wit and intelligence. - Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader
**** Weinstein's direction goes a long way toward establishing a plausible arc for this passionate evening of sex and chitchat. - Christopher Shea, Time Out Chicago
For VisionFest 2008
Enter LiveWire Chicago Theatre's first annual VisionFest, a forward-looking theater festival in search of relevant short plays that speak to one another through a common theme. - Monica Westin, Newcity Chicago
For Soldiers: The Desert Stand
**** This wartime satire began life as a grad-school project for playwright Weinstein in 2004; that it's still just as relevant (if not more so) four years later justifies its sentiments even further. - Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago
Joshua Weinstein's sharp, often very funny play uses sometimes penetrating, sometimes tedious spoofs to comment on the current rhetoric of the military and the sexuality and spectacle of violence in America... the language truly sparkles, and the play's comic sensibility is impressive and in perfect balance with the chilling moments... - Monica Westin, Newcity Chicago
Madeline Long won a 2008 'Outstanding Performance in a Play' After Dark Award for her portrayal of Toma Singerson... [Long's dead on performance was both mesmerizing and hysterical, leaving the audience delighted long after leaving the theater. Her depiction of a frenetic adolescent was exhilarating, hilarious and amazingly accurate.] - Venus Williams, Chicago Stage Review
For Soldiers: Recruitment
...excerpting from its full-length "Soldiers: The Desert Stand," "Recruitment" plays on war-department absurdities. Absurdist, yes, but, as they clarify, it's a "serious play on war." - Debbie Goldgaber, Newcity Chicago
For A/other Lover
**** There's plenty to admire about writer-director Weinstein's short head trip... this sounds a lot like Woody Allen territory, as do Weinstein's insights... - Tim Lowery, Time Out Chicago