"'Dear Jane' is a concept in search of a play, a bewildering collection of dramatic bits that pretend to lay bare the soul of playwright Joan Beber while revealing nothing at all...Theatregoers who spend money to watch a play about a woman writing a play about herself may not be amused...'Dear Jane' is more painless that you might expect, because the director, Katrin Hilbe, makes sure that her cast -- every one of them personable and a pro -- maintains a lively pace."
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"Despite trying to cover too much ground at once, this is a well-acted, emotionally charged drama...There are plenty of touching moments of dramatic tension, but perhaps too many to encompass in just one play, to the point where some important moments are sped through to get to the next one...Despite a disorienting beginning and lack of character development, 'Dear Jane' becomes an enthralling play once it gains momentum. Under the direction of Hilbe, it features strong acting."
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"There are a lot of talented people doing excellent work on 'Dear Jane'...If only they had a play that was less frustrating than an all-white jigsaw puzzle to work with...I could recommend it...As it is, however, I can’t do that. Nor can I tell you what 'Dear Jane' is about. Which is the problem...Thank goodness the cast was so invested, talented, and magnetic that even though I was floundering, I still felt compelled to watch."
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"'Dear Jane,' a very nice and hardworking play, is tangled in the weeds of the details of its story...The events themselves, jumping from one era to another, and never lasting for more than a minute, don’t coalesce into something substantive. We are left longing, at times overwhelmed, with a lot of details and not much understanding...This play has some serious self-reflection, and where many solo performances that deal with similar content fall short, 'Dear Jane' stands out."
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“The first few scenes held promise…There doesn’t seem to hold any reason to these quick succession of scenes, but we are given no time to dawdle on such details…The cast is game to all these quick and rapid-fire scenes...The director does manage to keep it moving and as focused as the text would allow, but doesn’t manage to save it from mangling itself.”
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“Whatever plot there is has to be pieced together from the shards of Julie's life flying by in countless bits and pieces…Unfortunately, very little is particularly dramatic, the characters are too vaguely conceived for audience empathy…and scenes frequently end almost before they've started. This 'now you see it, now you don't' approach creates so few opportunities for emotional development that the production's lack of tension makes its 90 minutes seem twice as long.”
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"'Dear Jane' is beyond confusing...Julie is constantly rewriting, as if to get a better ending. This wouldn’t be so bad if the dialogue weren't so cliché and trite...Who does succeed here are the actors...Katrin Hilbe does a good job in making her actors look good despite this material...'Dear Jane' seems written by somebody with dementia and we are expected to make heads or tails out of fragmented thoughts. In the end, I just needed an aspirin."
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"'Dear Jane' is the non-linear, semi-autobiographical story of performance artist Joan Beber. Although the images, art and music of Ms. Beber are fascinating, the story is not captivating. It is too vignette driven to engage the audience fully."
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