PRESS

 

“A typical Barsotti play poses an unlikely dynamic in a prosaic setting—zombies held captive in the garage by their spouses, say, or a woman trying unsuccessfully to die—then skews the premises in unexpected directions, the characters behaving in ways contradicting their genre.”
~ Mary Shen Barnidge, Windy City Times

“A major playwright in the making.”
~ Brian Kirst, Sheridan Road Magazine

Press Quotes & Reviews

FOUR STARS “Brewed creates a thoroughly twisted fantasy world, but the conflict is all in the relationships, grounding this dark and gritty take on gender roles, fairy tales and family drama.  The physical violence is effective, even grisly, and no one comes out unscathed. But the play works beyond its shock value because the emotional struggle is just as vicious.”
~ Aeneas Sagar Hemphill, TimeOut Chicago (Brewed)

RECOMMENDED “When the first line of a play is “motherfucker,” you know you’re probably in for a good time.  BREWED is a lively production full of everything from ultra violence to the supernatural and even some dark family issues.”
~ John Accrocco, New City (Brewed)

“Even in its lightest moments, a feeling of impending doom looms over BREWED. You realize quickly that you’ve entered a Shirley Jackson-esque world where sisterly bonds morph into a tale of horror that may have you sleeping with the lights on for a few nights.”
~ Sharon Eberson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Brewed)

“BREWED is funny. BREWED is weird, and let me clarify that statement. In our present age of weirdness inflation, when bizarre is normal and surreal is the new real, [BREWED] does not merely rank on the average. It’s in a league with the elite weird.”
~ Mike Vargo, Entertainment Central Pittsburgh (Brewed)

“My brother and I sometimes fight, but in the world of BREWED the sisters look like they are auditioning for Fight Club (by the time the play was over there were mangled feet, bloodied noses, and blackened eyes)…BREWED is recommended for its very dark satire and wickedly awesome fight scenes.”
~ Noel Schecter, Splash Magazine Chicago (Brewed)

“[C]austic, darkly funny family drama.”
~ Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune (Brewed)

“A piece with glancing echoes of Edward Albee’s numerous portraits of troubled midlife couples (especially “A Delicate Balance”) but with a sharp edge honed on the whetstone of an America defined by inexplicable and never-ending conflicts overseas and increasingly grim economic prospects at home.”
~ Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune (Jet Black Chevrolet)

“Inanimate objects, and the power with which we infuse them, dominate this new play in such a way that even a coffee pot comes to life. Hissing and spitting, it provides a physical manifestation for the fog clouding the lives of the play’s central couple, who are mired in anguish over a lost son.”
~ Chloe Riley, Chicago Reader (Jet Black Chevrolet)

“KILL ME is a fantasy nightmare for the believer and the disbelievers. Playwright Barsotti wrote a phantasmagorical tale. At the heart of it is love. Barsotti makes the stakes high and the characters engaging. Although I anticipated the signature WildClaw gore-fest, Kill Me was a different kind of terror. It was more heart-tugging horrific than hair-raising horror.” HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
~ Katy Walsh, Chicago Theater Beat, Chicago NOW (Kill Me)

“Revolutionarily new… Barsotti proves to be a major playwright in the making …WildClaw has truly invented an unusual evening of theater here.”
~ Brian Kirst, Sheridan Road Magazine (Kill Me)

“Many of us admit a fear of death, but how many of us can truly grasp what immortality would actually mean? These are the kind of questions the audience is forced to confront when watching Kill Me. I guarantee, whether you are a fan of horror or of good theater, you will NOT leave disappointed!”
~ Dave Fuentes, Terror From Beyond the Daves (Kill Me)

“Kill Me is a genuinely creepy 70-minute show  … at Sunday’s packed matinee, appreciative theatergoers murmured with approval at regular intervals, including every time the knife went in.”
~ Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune (Kill Me)

“Play[s] out like a cross between ‘Hellraiser’ and ‘In My Skin.”
~ Zach Freeman, New City (Kill Me)

“Effectively creepy new work.”
~ Kris Vire, TimeOut Chicago (Kill Me)

“Barsotti’s somber zombie drama The Revenants contains a surprising emotional elasticity particularly for those anticipating nothing more than an all out limb flinging gore fest. Those schooled in horror, though, know that the best of the genre (wherein The Revenants firmly places itself) picks at the heart as well as the fear bone.”
~ Chicago Free Press, Brian Kirst (The Revenants)

“CRITIC’S CHOICE: [The Revenants] is compelling…at once uncanny and emotionally powerful.”
~ Chicago Reader, Tony Adler (The Revenants)

“A sober and considered approach to the subject matter.  Go see THE REVENANTS and see that for actual human beings, the “zombiepocalypse” isn’t going to be a happy funtime first-person shooter video game.”
~ CreepyLA.com, Richard Becker (The Revenants)

“[A] thoroughly successful melding of the relationship drama and the zombie apocalypse. The Revenants is horror all the way — especially if the notion of missing, broken, or mutilated love is horrific. Or the notion of love, like zombification, destroying your personality, your history, your free will…Chekhov would approve, as would George Romero. In other words — go see it…see it with someone you’d shoot through the brain, or chain up in the garage, should it come to that.”
~ FlamesRising.com, Kenneth Hite (The Revenants)

“It’s like Chekhov with the walking dead. Barsotti nails it. The Revenants is NOT about people getting a weird virus or the end of the world. It is NOT about the zombies or the heroes who flee from them. The Revenants is about the death of relationships – divorce, infidelity, and the pain of one partner letting go while the other so desperately wants to cling to what once was. The idea that a spouse, upon deciding to split with his/her partner after X number of years suddenly resembles someone unthinking, unreasonable and somehow soulless is strong. The idea that a spouse would have difficulty letting go of the other, in spite of all indications that the relationship is long over, feels like Truth.”
~ AWG:Chicago, Don Hall (The Revenants)

“Barsotti’s tale of the undead among us…transcends formula schlock. The Revenants opens with…a mini-masterpiece of unnerving terror. As the tightly paced story winds on…the intriguingly troubled history of this four-way friendship unwinds as the desperation increases. …it is as perverse a happily-ever-after as you could possibly want from a tale of love among ghouls.”
~ Windy City Times, Catey Sullivan (The Revenants)

“If Edward Albee was a horror fan, he might have concocted The Revenants…”
~ Fearful Symmetries (The Revenants)

“Barsotti’s play offers more brain food than cheap thrills…it’s refreshing to see a piece firmly centered on the central question of what makes us human–our appetite for survival at any cost, or our need for love and companionship?”
~ Chicago Tribune, Kerry Reid (The Revenants)

“I left the theater with every intention of making sure my spouse and I are in agreement, should we ever find ourselves in a zombie predicament. This play has the perfect balance of humor, creepiness, emotional moments, and yes even some blood and gore. You feel as though you are really there in the basement living the hell of the situation with these characters. The Revenants is definitely a play worth seeing.”
~ Horror Society, Jessica Wells (The Revenants)

“In a strange way, The Revenants is very realistic. Barsotti has hit the nail on the head when it comes to zombies. It’s not really about the zombies; it’s about the people left behind. The Revenants is not to be missed!”
~ Killer-Works.com, Jude Mire (The Revenants)

“RECOMMENDED: A Must-See Show!  When the emotional entanglements of all four characters’ shared pasts are laid bare, the horror-house shocks and interpersonal bickering become something far more emotionally arresting. The Revenants shows how love can last longer than life itself, and its effects can be both beautiful and terrifying.”
~ Centerstage Chicago, Geoff Hyatt (The Revenants)

“The audience feels like they are trapped in the basement with these four characters, giving a total theatre experience that is appropriately unnerving.”
~ NYTheatre.com, Josh Sherman (The Revenants)

“[A] tight, edgy, claustrophobic and suspenseful character drama with harrowing moments and deep emotional resonance. It’s full of terror, pathos, humor, and humanity that serves to elevate the zombie archetype into a rich metaphor for past love, relationships, and self-images.”
~ Sword and Cloak, David Schmidt (The Revenants)

“[A] harrowing exploration of identity…Barsotti’s horror influences are evident.”
~ TimeOut Chicago, Aeneas Sagar Hemphill (Facing Angela)

Highly Recommended  “[A] harrowing dose of identity panic…”
~ Chicago Theatre Review, Eric Tengler  (Facing Angela)

“…bewildering and wonderfully terrifying pitch-black terror.”
~ Chicago Sun-Times, Thomas Conner (The Stray/Deliver Us From Nowhere)

“The highlight is Barsotti’s moody bad-blood tale The Stray, inspired by the track Highway Patrolman and inventively staged by Allison Shoemaker with only flashlights by which to see.”
~ TimeOut Chicago, Kris Vire (The Stray/Deliver Us From Nowhere)

“…a smart, buoyant, compassionate exercise in the Mojave Cracked genre epitomized by Sam Shepard’s True West——not to mention The Hills Have Eyes——about three young women marooned in the desert with a nice old lady who may be criminally insane.”
~ Chicago Reader, Tony Adler (Coydog)

“[P]rovokes my primordial fear of chthonic spaces…and my rational and experience-derived disgust of cockroaches. It is a creepy-crawly piece with lots of cursing and mummy-dry wheezing, with the Foley Artist banging out sounds of brick and mortar crumbling and things that go SHATTER in the dark.”
~ Killer-works.com, C.S.E. Cooney (The Skinny Man/DEATHSCRIBE 2009)

“Part meditation on the isolating effects of the Internet age, part send-up of the pop philosophers who lament such isolation, the piece contains several clever insights.”
~ Chicago Tribune, Kerry Reid (Capital O/The Other Side of the Elephant)

“…fiercely intelligent…”
~ TimeOut Chicago, Brian Nemtusak (Capital O/The Other Side of the Elephant)