“A quietly shattering new play…The director, Daniel Aukin, and his perfectly mismatched cast find the resonant meaning in the battle between hope and cynicism that infuses these characters’ every word and gesture...Though you’re likely to feel the pressure of unshed tears when the play is over, ‘Fulfillment Center’ is also an unexpectedly inspiriting work…The production is steeped in a luminous and illuminating empathy that feels both uncommon and essential right now."
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“One of the work’s keen pleasures is the way it feels like a carefully wrapped package: everything precisely contained, each of its two-person scenes assembled with the least padding possible. There’s a strictness about the staging, too...This simplicity accentuates the way director Daniel Aukin and his cast melt into naturalism simply by using a wealth of beautifully realized behavior…O’Connell is playing a part that could have been written for her. She is one of our theatrical nonpareils.”
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“Unfortunately, ‘Fulfillment Center,’ while featuring many evocative moments, fails to cohere into a satisfying whole. Despite terrific performances from its four-person ensemble, the play just spins its wheels before ending so abruptly that we’re not sure it has…The performers do as well as can be expected with their ill-defined roles…But their efforts are not enough to make ‘Fulfillment Center’ remotely fulfilling.”
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“After an enticing windup, ‘Fulfillment Center’ fizzles out into a series of two-character scenes in which competent actors are asked to interrupt each other's lines in a vague approximation of real human dialogue…Lack of detail makes it hard for us to invest in the drama, even though we know something crucial is at stake. Buried in Koogler's highly stylized patter lurks a much-sharper play…At least O'Connell leaves us with something to chew on with her brave and vulnerable performance.”
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“Much of the success of Aukin's production is rooted in four first-rate performances…'Fulfillment Center' is as spare and elliptical as a 'New Yorker' short story, but each scene is loaded with unspoken tensions, and its unsparing view speaks to the moment we're in…A small, tightly focused drama, and Aukin's direction makes it compellingly taught. Even more compelling is its depiction of people trying to get by in a system where the only metric of their value is how much they can produce.”
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“The sad outweighs the funny in ‘Fulfillment Center,’ but my gosh, there's plenty of both…They're rich characters, and Daniel Aukin's direction, rife with overlapping dialogue, mines their quirks expertly...And he knows comedy. So many exchanges that might read as so-so on paper reverberate and land beautifully, helped by actors who know how to subtly reveal and amplify character contradictions. Booth is really spectacular…So is O'Connell."
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“A formidably talented cast to forcefully flesh out their characters' hopes and insecurities…Smartly written and often funny dialogue…The alternating one-on-one interactions tend to become repetitious and short of strong dramatic heft...Though there's not a whole lot of drama, Kooger does have a good eye and ear for the nuances of these relationships...Unfortunately it becomes increasingly clear that none of these situations will take us anywhere."
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"This new play about loneliness and desperation features brilliantly drawn characters played by four magnificent actors...The play’s weakness is in its structure...For ninety minutes we experience their terror with great clarity. But Koogler offers no structure for their condition. His story lacks a beginning, middle and end...What makes 'Fulfillment Center' a fulfilling evening is the actors...Life may fail to offer us redemption, but these actors work overtime to redeem this play."
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