The Peculiar Patriot Reviews
Washington Post- Somewhat Recommended
"...Liza Jessie Peterson wants to alter your thinking about U.S. prisons, but her solo show, “The Peculiar Patriot” only briefly spins all the way up into fact-driven agitprop. Instead, her empathetic 90-minute show at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is mostly acted out as a series of warmhearted visits by LaQuanda, our narrator, to an incarcerated friend. Despite the grim circumstances, Peterson’s tone is upbeat: It’s an understated protest play working hard to keep hope alive."
DC Theater Arts- Recommended
"...It’s easy to look at statistics and become exasperated that the nation’s drug policies and penal systems exhibit a structural racial bias that runs so deep that it seems as if no one individual, even well-placed and with the best of intentions, can fix it, but it may take art like The Peculiar Patriot to portray its impact on the millions of LaQuanda Rosses who simply love someone convicted of a crime."
Talkin Broadway- Recommended
"...Through the course of the 90-minute play, well paced by director Talvin Wilks, the audience learns about Betsy's childhood as the daughter of a Black Panther and the collapse of her family after her father went to prison; her former boyfriend, now doing time and trying to get her back and the part-Native American, part-African American she's currently seeing (Peterson also embodies both men in brief speeches); her troubled teen years; and her mission to help the people she knows who have been caught up in the prison system."
DCTheatreScene- Highly Recommended
"...Peterson's spellbinding ninety minute journey slides by far too quickly. Her talent is undeniable, her moral clarity unshakable, and her call to action clear. It's easy to imagine Peterson channeling her gifts into a more lucrative and less emotionally demanding lane, like stand-up comedy or film. Audiences, Woolly Mammoth, and our ever-growing prison population are lucky indeed that she has chosen this path instead."
BroadwayWorld- Highly Recommended
"...The first words that come to mind when thinking about The Peculiar Patriot at Woolly Mammoth Theatre are: riveting, eye-opening, and deeply personal."