Day of Absence Reviews
Washington Post- Somewhat Recommended
"...In Theater Alliance's season opener, singularity is an asset and a flaw. An ingenious and daring directorial idea makes the production a noteworthy meditation on both race relations and showbiz history. But a one-note performance style, exacerbated by uneven acting, largely reduces the evening's main event, Douglas Turner Ward's "Day of Absence," to tedium."
MD Theatre Guide- Highly Recommended
"...This is an exceptionally well-done theatre that demands to be seen and discussed. It is depressing that in 2019 we are still having these conversations, but it is not a depressing play. It is a righteous call to arms for all of us to do what is right and simply human."
DCTheatreScene- Recommended
"...The cast in whiteface dials the hilarity up to the max, broadcasting exaggerated expressions and inflections as if they were in a modern day minstrel show which, in fact, they are. Each cast member gets a moment to shine but Nia Savoy's performance as Mary, a young mother who is lost without the mammy she's had since childhood really stuck with me for how it straddled the line between over the top comedy and the darkness of a mother without the skills to take care of her own child."
BroadwayWorld- Recommended
"...Co-directors Raymond O. Caldwell and Angelisa Gillyard have devised the recreation of an historic American entertainment that couldn't possibly be presented any other way, with Jonathan Dahm Robertson's set, with its velvet curtains, minstrel posters and footlights, looking like something from the 1800s."