Washington Post - Highly Recommended
"...Resonantly, too, the playwright has constructed a comedy about acting that gives actors terrific moments. Everybody gets at least one: The state of Marty and James's marriage, for instance, comes coursing to the surface in a sharply rendered scene in which Mendenhall and Winter reveal their characters' mutual resentment while role-playing another character's parents. The expertly played sexual tension between Talbott's Schultz and McElfresh's Theresa supplies another swell undercurrent for the evening."
Washington Examiner - Recommended
"...Just as it might seem strange to praise the cast for its convincing portrayals of acting students, it might also seem a bit goofy to praise set designer Debra Booth for getting all the lived-in details right, from the never-quite-empty cubbyholes to the overgrown-with-fliers bulletin board in the hall. Booth’s stage looks a lot like the conservatory classrooms two floors above it. But this authenticity sells the illusion and enables a subtle bravura finish: In the final scene, wherein Talbott and Meehan imagine meeting 10 years in the future, the wall-spanning mirror that has been obscured by a curtain is at last exposed, giving the audience a full view of themselves behind the players. It’s a fitting end to a show that speaks slowly and quietly but says a mouthful."
DCist - Recommended
"...But Baker's got more in mind than a study in theater games. Gradually, the audience becomes better acquainted with the characters, who include the shy, cynical Lauren (MacKenzie Meehan), recovering divorcee Schultz (Jeff Talbott), struggling family man James (Harry A. Winter), flighty instructor Marty (Jennifer Mendenhall) and the enchanting but self-absorbed Theresa (Kathleen McElfresh). Those character interactions quickly shift from awkward and tentative to complicated and riveting. They culminate in a climactic reveal when one of the games, which up to that point have been emotionally brutal at times, takes an even more devastating turn."
MetroWeekly - Recommended
"...Circle Mirror Transformation marks an auspicious start to artistic director David Muse's tenure at Studio. It also signals great things ahead for the theater's audiences."
Talkin Broadway - Recommended
"...Muse, an actors' director who has a record of fine work at Studio, has molded an ensemble whose members play off each other beautifully; they make their interactions look effortless, which takes amazing amounts of work. Mendenhall embodies the earth mother, an evangelist for the power of acting and just a little smug; Winter allows his character's melancholy and dissatisfaction to seep out gradually; McElfresh starts out with a hard shell, which dissolves as she becomes more comfortable with herself; Talbott is sometimes painful to watch in his vulnerability; and Meehan dazzles with her minutely observed characterization of an outsider who desperately wants to fit in somewhere."
Washington City Paper - Somewhat Recommended
"...There’s a drama here, but it’s a series of moments and miniatures, not a play for theatergoers with epic appetites; its tragedies (there are no triumphs, unless mere survival counts) are small-scale, and merely sketched, not unpacked for our examination. Baker’s collisions are painful and funny enough, by turns, to prove her perceptive about how people connect and communicate, and how we sometimes don’t—though in this play, at least, she doesn’t pretend to know how we might do it better. She does seem to promise, curiously, that most everything will end well—even in lives where chapters are coming to an end."
Washington Life - Recommended
"...There is no intermission during this 1 hour 45 minutes production and the pace is incredibly quick, dozens of scenes fade in and out, small slices of time that heighten the tension and reveal honest attempts at emotional connection. Debra Booth created a set that acts as another player in the drama – though it is a silent observer to the action – the small community center with hardwood floors, a wall length mirror, and random paraphernalia like yoga mats, stools and cubby holes. This is where the games take place – the counting game, the gibberish game, explosion tag, picture frame – game after game that symbolize the connections and mis-connections that these people experience in real life."
Washingtonian - Recommended
"...As part of a final acting exercise, each character writes down a secret. They’re revealed anonymously, leaving the characters and the audience guessing which person has which secret. It seemed like a gimmick onstage, but my husband and I talked about it all the way home—a sign that we’d been far more intrigued than we realized when leaving the theater. Baker had charmed us into her circle, forced us to look into her mirror, and transformed our impressions."
DramaUrge - Highly Recommended
"...The subtlety of delivery masks some really exceptional performances by this well-cast group of actors. Ms. Medenhall is outstanding as the controlling and vulnerable Marty and Mr. Talbott is a master of wearing his emotions on his sleeve, playing the needy Schultz much to the delight of the crowd. Ms. McElfresh lights up the set as the nubile Theresa, the flame of sexuality or promise of the future, which will draw these characters ever onward. But the excellence in acting is shown also by the restraint and service to their characters and their fellow performers, especially exemplified by the resourceful Mr. Winter playing James. The linchpin of this production, however, is Ms. Meehan whose portrayal of the touchingly awkward and offbeat Lauren, a stand-in for the audience (and probably the playwright), hits each and every comic line with deadpan gusto."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
If you were to see your life played out onstage, would you like what you saw? And if you didn’t, what would you do about it? Studio Theatre’s poignant, arresting production of Circle Mirror Transformation begs this question, among others, as five characters explore the emotional underpinnings of drama, including the concept of acting as a vehicle for self-reflection and personal growth.