Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...If playwrights and journalists share compulsive tendencies, then that little coterie with feet in both camps (such as Ben "The Front Page" Hecht, Maurine "Chicago" Watkins and Sophie "Machinal" Treadwell) were doubly familiar with the sleepless night, the thudding brain and the characters who won't leave the writer alone. Masha Obolensky's new play, "Not Enough Air," premiering at Chicago's TimeLine Theatre, is a rather convoluted and stilted meditation on that theme."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Playwrights often talk about the way characters suddenly "appear" to them and begin to assume a life of their own, almost dictating their lines. In Masha Obolensky's compelling new play, "Not Enough Air" -- a fearsome feminist outcry now in a powerfully acted, drivingly directed world premiere at TimeLine Theatre -- the relationship between writer and character is turned into a complex dance for four. It is a painful dance, one that feeds on the dense layering of real and creative relationships, disturbed mental states and the quest for freedom."
Chicago Reader - Highly Recommended
"...Masha Obolensky's new historical drama--about Sophie Treadwell, her play Machinal, and its source in the 1927 trial of Ruth Snyder for her husband's murder--might have been dull as paste. How do you dramatize writing a play? But Obolensky seizes all the disparate, fascinating threads of her subject, from Treadwell's "neurasthenia" to her complicated but congenial marriage and her troubled relationship with her father, and weaves them together, not seamlessly, but believably."
Examiner - Highly Recommended
"...Three quarters or so through the way through Timeline Theatre’s vivid, smart and wholly absorbing Not Enough Air, an unforgettable black and white photo materializes on a pair of cage-like metal doors. In the blink of an eye, the images appears, a horrifying portrait of a woman in the electric chair at the precise moment thousands of volts of electricity coursed through and killed her. It’s a nightmare moment that sears itself in the memory. It is also indicative of the overall dramatic power of Timeline’s production. Directed by Nick Bowling, Masha Obolensky’s expressionistic true crime fable is a triumph of atmospheric storytelling and disquieting truths."
Windy City Times - Highly Recommended
"...as played by Janet Ulrich Brooks, Treadwell—whose adventures included stints as a front-line war correspondent and undercover investigative agent—emerges as a creature both steely and sensitive. Under Nick Bowling's direction, David Parkes, Mechelle Moe, Danica Ivancevic, Terry Hamilton and Zach Kenney all deliver vivid and varied portraits of the obligatory advocates and adversaries, but it is Sophie whom we go home glad to have met."
Chicago Free Press - Highly Recommended
"...Janet Ulrich Brooks’ Sophie works wonders to make it hurt as much to see as it did to feel. Brooks’ swift and certain performance, a feat of barely controlled anger and everything that’s the opposite of writer’s block, feeds on and fuels all the others—Mechelle Moe’s mysterious presence as the fictitious Snyder, Danica Ivancevic as the real husband-killer and David Parkes as Treadwell’s remarkably non-abusive husband. They, along with Andrew Hansen’s ferocious sound design and score, do as much for the play as an author could hope for and, because of the static storyline, even more so."
Copley News Service - Recommended
"...Certainly no fault can be found with the TimeLine production. Janet Ulrich Brooks is superb as Sophie Treadwell, a fiercely independent woman in a man’s world, battling unspecified nervous disorders and a problematical marriage. Brooks is surrounded by exemplary work from Danica Ivancevic as Ruth Snyder and Mechelle Moe, Terry Hamilton, Zach Kenney, and David Parkes in multiple roles. The more I see of Hamilton, the more it becomes obvious that he is as good an actor as we’ve got on the talent rich Chicagoland theater scene."
Chicago Stage Review - Highly Recommended
"...Timeline Theatre Company delivers an elegantly evocative and stylistically sophisticated world premiere of Not Enough Air. Playwright Masha Obelensky creates an expressionistically dramatic fable of sexist double standards, personal conviction and creative drive."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...TimeLine gives Not Enough Air a characteristically snappy production, featuring a restrained but versatile Brian Sidney Bembridge design and fine sound work by Andrew Hansen. As Sophie, Brooks’s job is primarily to be indomitable, and she puts on her best Winged Victory. Only in her scenes with Parkes does her talent for nuance become apparent. The ever-uncanny Moe steals a good bit of the second act as Machinal’s Young Woman, demanding more life from her creator. For all the verve of Bowling’s direction, though, the performers remain stuck in a play more term paper than realized drama."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...With a strong supporting work from David Parks, Terry Hamilton and Zach Kenney, Not Enough Events has an intriguing style, a soaring pace, and a powerful theatricality that explores both the creative process and the events that molded Treadwell’s obsession to write Machinal. I’ve not seen as fine a stylized historical drama and character profile as Not Enough Air presents. Janet Ulrich Brooks is fabulous as Sophie Treadwell."
Chicago Stage and Screen - Recommended
"...Scenic Designer Brian Sidney Bembridge provides a caged cell upstage from which Ms. Treadwell's bed, desk and sofa emerge. Andrew Hansen's moody sound design and original music and Heather Gilbert's stark lighting add to the surreal experience. "Not Enough Air" may feel occasionally confusing and avant-garde to some tastes, but pay close attention and you'll find plenty of rewards in this thoughtful and intelligent original work."