by PAULA VOGEL
directed by JOSH SOBEL
Strawdog Theatre Company
Winter 2015
THE LONG CHRISTMAS
RIDE HOME
Past, present and future collide on a snowy Christmas Eve when a family's car spins out of control following a disastrous holiday dinner. Josh Sobel directs a hauntingly beautiful play by Pulitzer-winner Paula Vogel that deftly charts the personal trajectories that are forever altered by a single, fateful night.
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NOMINATED: Best Sound Design & Best Artistic Specialization: Puppet Design, Joseph Jefferson Awards 2016
"RECOMMENDED... This indeed is a very distinctive 90 minutes of theater... "The Long Christmas Ride Home" will have the effect, I think, of drawing you closer to those you love... a very touching and quite wise little show that has lived in the front of my head for the past few days."
-Chicago Tribune
"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED... gives director Josh Sobel the opportunity to stage some surprisingly poignant moments of theater... There is an unexpected tenderness in this production that appears over and over, seemingly from nowhere."
-Time Out Chicago
"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED... Chamber-theater-style storytelling and bunraku-inspired puppets contribute to the comic, tragic, honest beauty of this unorthodox yuletide tale, sensitively rendered in Josh Sobel's staging for Strawdog Theatre. Don't see it with the kids unless you're prepared for a serious discussion on the ride home."
-Chicago Reader
"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED... Josh Sobel directs his cast with extreme grace in a production with such audacious goals and multiple styles... Dzialo and Rezos are completely compelling as the parents, drifting into stylized narration and naturalistic interactions effortlessly... and Johnson have a lot of work to do creating flawed, empathetic characters in one scene each and they generate a remarkable amount of depth in a short amount of time. It’s ultimately Hubbard who inhabits Ride’s heart."
-Chicago Theater Beat