“Thunder & Lightning has mounted an engaging production...I was fully invested in this nicely paced show that built the tension smoothly as the emotions exude from the characters...this is a little gem for only a $15 ticket.”
—Tom Williams chicagocritic.com
#2 on Newcity Chicago’s List of Top Five Shows to See Now (Chris Arnold’s brutally funny and genuinely affecting revival)
—Newcity Chicago 8/16/07
“But whether or not you saw Red Light Winter the first time around, and especially if you didn’t, director Chris Arnold’s brutally funny and genuinely affecting revival for T&L is certainly worth checking out… the casting couldn’t be better. Andy Hagar is the play’s emotional anchor playing the sweetly sardonic and self-deprecating intellectual uncomfortable in his own skin. The striking Sadie Rogers, with gorgeous lips that would make Mick Jagger green with envy, is equal parts sexy and sympathetic. And Andrew Carl draws upon his natural boisterousness to make his character appropriately irritating.”
—Fabrizio O. Almedia Newcity Chicago 8/16/07
“I have seen companies go from success to failure and vice-versa but seldom have I seen one make such a positive transformation. This is a prime example of…the extraordinary dramatic and professional growth that can be witnessed on the stages of Chicago theatre. Despite the shortcuts and shortcomings of the script, “Red Light Winter” is a cleverly captivating and powerfully poignant dramatic prize.”
—Venus Zarrius Gay Chicago Magazine 8/23/07
One of 2007’s Top 5 Memorable Productions by Smaller Theatre Troupes
—NewCity Chicago 1/3/08
#1 Top 5 Shows to See Now (Thunder and Lightning Ensemble's best yet)
—Newcity Chicago 6/28/07
“Director D.B. Schroeder and his Thunder and Lightening Ensemble actors have taken Wallace’s largely arid script and turned out a beautifully observed production, imbued with moments of unexpected grace and committed performances that ultimately make you care as much as the writing makes you think. The physical design adds to this impression with finely detailed costumes that contribute to the play's antiquated yet historically accurate feel, stark lighting that heightens the play's grim mood and a cinematic staging that elegantly links the play's numerous episodes. In the end, however, it’s the strong ensemble acting that drives the production, keeps this Depression-era drama from becoming depressing to watch and makes “The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek” easily Thunder & Lightning Ensemble’s most mature and fully realized production to date”.
—Newcity Chicago, Fabrizio O. Almedia 6/28/07
“Featuring three characters who play games of charades and shadow puppets at various points, “Trestle” is well suited to a small, bare-bones theater. You don’t need a whole lot of props, sets and costumes to evoke the desperation of these characters, as Thunder & Lightning Ensemble proves with a new production at Chicago’s intimate Trapdoor Theatre. Cynthia Shur creates a strong impression as the frankly spoken, manipulative and somewhat peculiar tomboy Pace Creagan. With her rounded facial features, Shur can almost pass for a teen, and she plays Pace with a mischievous half-smile and a confident sense of swagger…John Wehrman effectively plays Dalton as a sort of split personality. In the scenes that take place earlier chronologically, he is wide-eyed, almost happy-go-lucky, despite his depressing surroundings…and Ed Schultz creates a memorably odd persona as Chas, the sheriff watching over Dalton in his jail cell…Directed by D.B. Schroeder, the Thunder & Lightning production is quirky, involving and emotionally affecting.”
—Pioneer Press, Robert, Loerzel 6/27/07
“John Wehrman gives a passionate, committed portrayal… As his mother, Gin, Debbie Ruzicka has many moments of truthful intelligence and grit…Cynthia Shur eventually delivers with brash bravado as Pace…Thunder and Lightning Ensemble still emerges as an exciting company willing to take risks and go on intriguing artistic journeys.”
—Chicago Free Press, Liz Neff 6/27/07
“The rough-edged but talented Thunder & Lightning Ensemble responds passionately”
—Chicago Reader, Brian Nemtusak 6/29/07
One of 2007’s Top 5 Memorable Productions by Smaller Theatre Troupes
—Newcity Chicago 1/3/08
“The most effective segments send up the ways in which nascent movements bog down in minutiae…the performances are, well, biting.”
—Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune 1/19/07
“The play’s issues-and even the way they are presented-could be pondered about and argued over for hours. This is a sign of provocative theater and proof that the young Thunder and Lightning Ensemble have a mettle and strength of conviction that eclipses their brevity of years.”
—Brian Kirst, Chicago Free Press 1/17/07
“Under the direction of D. B. Schroeder, invaluably assisted by Matthew Schroeder’s dramaturgy and Clare Hane’s dialect instruction…the actors of the Thunder and Lightning Ensemble conjure vivid, immediately identifiable characterizations, declaiming with passionate intensity while never wavering in focus. Their combined efforts make for uniformly excellent performances—superlative, in the case of Amy Gorelow’s forthright matrons and Ian Forrester's restless adolescents—commanding emotional investment to hold us spellbound right up to a resolution so logically satisfying that we never see it coming.”
—Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City Times 6/14/2006
#1 on Newcity Chicago’s List of Top Five Shows to See Now—6/14/06 (Smart, Challenging Work from A Still-New Company)
“Having made their debut just over a year ago with a psychologically complex two-hander that would have tested the mettle of any young theatre troupe, Thunder & Lightning Ensemble proved that even if they had bitten off slightly more than they could chew, they certainly didn't lack for ambition when it came to their selection of material nor dedication to doing it justice. Indeed, for their follow-up piece, artistic director D.B. Schroeder has chosen American playwright Anthony Clarvoe’s little known “Ambition Facing West,” a beautiful tapestry of a play interweaving three narrative strands across three generations of characters and over three continents to paint an epic portrait of the American Immigrant experience… Schroeder and his cast of seven have risen to the challenge and admirably not allowed themselves to be intimidated by the prospect of the text, a dense and naturalistic affair with pockets of humor and poetic writing containing a Chekhovian sense of bitter-sweet longing...It’s a wonderful play on an epic scale and given their limited resources, Thunder & Lightning Ensemble’s production does it justice”
—Fabrizio Almeida, Newcity Chicago 6/14/06
One of 2006’s Top 5 Memorable Productions by Smaller Theatre Troupes
—Newcity Chicago 1/4/07
“You certainly can’t accuse Thunder and Lightning ensemble of not being ambitious enough.”
—Fabrizio Almeida, Newcity Chicago May 12, 2005