“I don’t know to whom to give the most credit- Matt Minnicino’s taut 90- minute adaptation, Joseph Mitchell Parks’s seamless, circling staging, or the cast, largely excellent and without self-indulgent flourishes.”

“Valerie Redd’s Hedda is the perfect cipher- inscrutable and yet utterly compelling. It is hard to take your eyes off her as she sedately prowls her parlor like a lioness in her den. Every move, every gesture, is as calculated as the low purr of her voice.”

“Redd has so much inner life that drives her throughout the play we hang on her every word. Often, it is what she doesn’t say that is the most interesting.”

“A new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play with modern wits and new perspectives on those familiar characters...capture[s] the Ibsenian essence of each character, and infuses the new version with rhythms that are more palatable for a modern audience.”

“Director Joseph Mitchell Parks makes good use of his strong cast, especially the Nordic- remote Valerie Redd as a Hedda who can’t seem to believe what’s happened, is happening, will happen. She keeps touching herself, carefully, as if to establish that she’s real...Redd’s Hedda destroys lives; brandishing pistols and burning manuscripts, betraying some people, belittling others, encouraging great gestures and kvetching about hair, she is at once petty and grand.”

“The Witches is a very detail-oriented production. Every single moment, item, and movement was skillfully calculated. The pre-show ambience was so striking the audience was afraid to talk...from the moment you entered the room the play was on.”

“a daring take on Macbeth...Redd keeps the action consistent, seamlessly weaving in and out of witchy ritual and Shakespearean text...the conceit of a seance is striking and fascinating...a haunting adaptation”

“Nothing here is rushed and everything is used. Creator/ writer/ adapter Valerie Redd has woven a smartly rich tapestry of words and sounds...”

“The strongly singular focus crafted through the use of one of the most famous plays is a true testament to Redd’s understanding of the work she is using and the work she is making—and how clearly she understands why Hamlet still gets under our skin today.
The use of the Southern Gothic (and the heavy cutting) focuses the story to bear a weight down upon what it means to truly lose someone that I have never felt in any other production of Hamlet I’ve seen”

“What makes Short Life of Trouble a truly beautiful and unique theatrical experience is the music. When you have a company of actors who can not only sing, but sing in such stunning harmonies, you can’t help but fall...The music is bound to win you over and beg for a cast album to be recorded”