“Several plays are struggling to be heard from within the overwrought architecture...The play is bruised purple with metaphors…It is also unsettling unintentionally, in the clash between its floridness and its heavy burden of witness. Each short-circuits the other, and the result is too often bathos if not outright confusion. The staging is about as unsubtle as it could be...Mengesha encourages the actors to go big...Only in simpler moments is the story able to land convincingly.”
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"We already know that war is hell. It's also messy, which may explain why Zimmerman's new antiwar play, though sometimes searing, is also such a jumble...There's a generic quality to the story and the characters, though the ensemble cast, guided by director Weyni Mengesha, mitigates the latter; we always care about these people, even if we don't fully believe in them...The play does not go down easy. But it's not easily forgotten. It leaves a wound."
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“A derivative play in a beautiful and beguiling production…We wonder if this tell-don't-show style might be more conducive to the page, rather than the stage. Mengesha works hard to dispel that notion with a visually arresting production…Several of the performances are also quite memorable…Can there be a lasting peace without real justice? It is a valuable question that would land with more of an impact if Zimmerman's work didn't feel so much like a throwback to past literary triumphs.”
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"Handsomely mounted and sensitively acted, but the play itself lacks dramatic focus...The narrative jumps back and forth through time too often for clarity. There's an allegory present somewhere, but between moments of brutality, hopefulness, religious hypocrisy and madness, the 80-minute piece is jumbled...'Seven Spots on the Sun' is certainly ambitious and is bound to touch hearts with its sincerity."
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"A parable about revenge and forgiveness that, in its final showdown, attains a punch-in-the-gut power…‘Seven Spots on the Sun’ is a tricky piece of writing, combining brutal realism with fabulistic plot twists and featuring extensive passages of direct address. But, under the assured direction of Weyni Mengesha, these potentially clashing elements come together to wrenching effect. All five principals make strong contributions."
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"Muddled on every crucial level...The narrative threads dramatically intersect but nothing is that compelling. Zimmerman’s stylized dialogue is often in the mode of a poetry slam with colorful and forceful declarations. The play comes across as an academic exercise rather than a work of true feeling grounded in reality...Mengesha has the talented cast performing at full throttle, resulting in overwrought and collectively overall ineffective characterizations."
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"While 'Seven Spots on the Sun' is beautiful in language, it is hampered by underwritten characters and unnecessary detours from the main story...The unconventional story arc doesn't seem to do its subject any favors...The actors all give exceptional performances, and make good use of the rich language that Zimmerman employs...At times the language here is too purple...Mengesha’s staging gets a bit cramped, and is all the more complicated by the timeline."
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“A searing work...This is an allegory and is rich in symbolism...There are scalding performances by Sean Carvajal as Luis, Flor De Liz Perez as Monica, and Rey Lucas as Moisés. Flora Diaz is lovely as Belén and Peter Jay Fernandez is convincing as Eugenio, the priest. The entire cast is commendable. The excellent direction is by Weyni Mengesha. The performers enunciate clearly and project. The effective set is by Arnulfo Maldonado...And yes, this reviewer wept.”
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