“There may be no more well-intentioned play in town than 'Phoenix Rising'; the author's concern for her young characters is palpable, and the problems she names - abuse, mental illness, and homophobia, among others - are very real. But her characters are thinly conceived case histories and the dialogue is a string of pop-spirituality clichés."
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"Writer/director Gosheff has witnessed hundreds of women who have endured, despite maintaining silence in the face of adversity; she also draws from her own experiences as a 'survivor' of sexual assault. The stories of these girls are powerful because they ring authentic, though they are also told with humor and compassion."
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"The stories are heart-wrenching and told with tremendous passion and commitment by a sensational ensemble…Written and directed by the exceptionally talented Laura Gosheff, each story is told through gorgeous poetry and expressive choreography…Though I found the storytelling in some of the episodes confusing and difficult to follow, the play is always visually and aurally engaging. The conclusion is quite heartwarming and uplifting."
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"It is an ambitious work written in verse and incorporating dance and vocal music...While well-intentioned, the work is pretentious, overlong, repetitious, one-note and without nuance...Goddess Mother/Grace is played with sensitivity by Kristen Vaughan, who is, however, frequently inaudible. All the young women are well played...This is an earnest effort and there is an audience for it. It’s a niche piece that may well thrive in academia."
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"I would not make light of the accomplishment here. At the end of the 90-minute production you do feel you have met deeply damaged people, genuinely scarred women, completely undone by what’s been done to them…I am not sure what 'Phoenix Rising' is but I fear it is not yet a play. It has power and life but it has the feel of a therapist’s session gone wild."
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“One of those plays that has good intentions yet manages to hammer in too many concepts and ideas that hurt the overall production...To Gosheff’s credit, she tries to do something different...It just sadly didn’t work the way you would have hoped...Through no fault of their own, the girls were sadly cartoons. Between the era costumes and the caricature dialogue, it was hard to ground the reality within the overblown bubble.”
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"Gosheff has taken this cast and given them powerful stories...The theatre is about choices, and I think Gosheff has chosen to over-egg the pudding here...The cast and technical crew, though, ensure that the wobble is mild...This play is ambitious, and it is actually about something important. It isn’t perfect, and the ambition is not quite fulfilled. But it’s more than worthy of attention."
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"'Phoenix Rising' is a chance to delve into the female psyche...Laura Gosheff, writer and director, created a sincere and visceral show that exposes the struggles of choosing love in the face of fear, self doubt, and shame...But before you think it is all tears, there is plenty of humor as the girls spark back snappy comebacks at each other and tempers flare. A show like this one can be tedious without emotional bravery and full commitment but luckily the actors did not falter."
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