My Name Is Asher Lev Reviews
DC Theater Arts- Highly Recommended
"...1st Stage consistently brings terrific talent to our area and the actors are well-supported by excellent designers. I found the light design by Kristin A. Thompson and sound design by Reid May to be very compelling. Lights gave a dynamic view of the mother looking through a window which provided a central image for the play’s conflict. The soundscape moved the audience from an intimate family space rooted in religion, to a gallery teaming with people looking at art. These are quite different spaces for different types of observance."
MD Theatre Guide- Highly Recommended
"...The direction, by Nick Olcott, is subtle and nuanced. He takes Posner’s brilliantly-written story and allows it to breathe. He is ably assisted by set designer by Jessica Cancino who in five different platforms creates the dining room, the father’s study (and the mother’s much small desk), the artist’s studio, and the steps and windows of a Brooklyn brownstone. The lighting design by Kristin A. Thompson is a revelation of the working of Asher’s mind, and eventually, it dawns on the audience that the three large, paned windows are an embodiment of the three crosses on Calvary, which Asher eventually uses to unleash devastating truths."
DCTheatreScene- Highly Recommended
"...Nick Olcott gets good work, though, from the three veteran actors who put the play before us. Beck is obliged to take his character through the first three or four of the seven ages of man, and does a convincing job. As he sits cross-legged on the floor, a six-year-old showing his mother his drawing of her, he captures exactly the heart of the boy he becomes: shy, and at the same time absolutely certain his mother will love what he is showing her, and just as sure that her judgment will be correct. Beck is similarly spot-on taking his character through the rest of his childhood and young adulthood."