Random Acts NYC Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (39)
See it if you'd like to hear abt racial tensions in Chicago 1960s-70s. Impressions of 5/6 yo and of minister-dad. Strong beg/ending...mushy middle.
Don't see it if you want high interest thru-out. Some dull portions (cut Hills Are Alive). Late payoff is touching. Religious underpinnings. Cloying as kid.
See it if Lovely enactment of child’s perspective on racial strife. Emotional, spiritual, full of joy & hope even in dark moments. Beautiful ending.
Don't see it if You don’t enjoy solo shows. You are uninterested in a child’s viewpoint. You want more drama, rather than sad life experiences.
Critic Reviews (7)
"This talented artist smoothly jumps from character to character…Perhaps the most interesting slant is its concern with a white girl being on the receiving end of racist attitudes, and of a child's loss of innocence but not her faith in human goodness. 'Random Acts' raises valid issues, and nicely captures Hinrichs's recall of a specific time and place. As drama, though, it's…thin, like the threads of a spider web, lovely to look at but so fragile it doesn't take much effort for it to crumble."
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"Had a fiction writer created such events one might fairly level a charge of contrivance. But Hinrichs presents these true-life stories with an easy mix of cleverness and charm, wisdom and innocence. Animated by skillful shifting from character to character, her likable performance grows easy to believe and hard to resist...Director Jessi D. Hill precisely tunes the pace and pathos of Hinrichs’ resonant story. Hill seems to have developed a special knack for making solo shows feel immersive.”
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"'Random Acts' brought a lot of childhood memories back. For that reason alone, I was captivated by this memoir...'Random Acts' is nicely staged by director Jessi D. Hill...With interesting lighting effects by Daisy Long, the stage hints at a theatrical sermon filled with stories. Not the lecturing kind but a reflective one. Random acts of kindness can be overwhelmingly inspirational. 'Random Acts,' the play, is proof of that."
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"Director Jessi D. Hill ensures the power of the piece by keeping the production simple and open to the audience...As an actress and dancer Ms. Hinrichs’ physicality is subtle, precise and delicate. She captures childhood abandon in her adult body without fear in sharp contrast to the stiff and proper elements she brings to her adult impressions. She is absolutely delightful to watch, and I love her singing voice."
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“The dramatization of an intensely personal experience from the author’s childhood...Hinrichs navigates between characters with great skill and obvious affection using her limber, dancer’s body to move artfully between physical types and age ranges...Not only is it good theater, it’s also the sort of presentation I find to be needed during these rapidly changing times...’Random Acts’ is a picture of living history, recent history.”
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“Hinrichs' moving, funny and more relevant by the minute one-woman show...There are many twists and turns in Renata's expert storytelling...Renata as an actor has an uncanny ability to transform into all the people who she is telling us about...She does this with simplicity and humor, aided by the expert staging of director Jessi Hill, who also helped Renata expand this piece into a full-length evening that feels embodied and immersive."
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“Well crafted and beautifully written...Hinrichs captures so beautifully the innocence of childhood...It is a very personal yet very universal story. There are quiet, breathtaking moments of love and kindness, and a child’s openness to the world that counter the moments of hate and violence...A story about kindness, about acceptance, bullying, peer pressure, friendship, breaking down of stereotypes and all of it told through the sublime, heart lifting performance of Hinrichs.”
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