"Half-baked, overacted and with stylized design to the point of distraction...Mr. Graber’s trite scenario is rendered as a superficial by-the-numbers treatment and the presentation is overwrought...Hilbe’s physical positioning of the actors is accomplished and the scenes flow. However, the technical elements are obtrusive and the performances are erratic...Mr. Graber’s preoccupation with sociological concerns hasn’t been matched by a command of playwriting in this leaden exercise."
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"Timely, but unsuccessful...To its credit, the script does not offer easy answers; at the same time, it touches so many themes that the overall effect is dizzying and largely unsatisfying...I don't know what playwright Graber wanted 'Shooter' to convey, or even if he had a clear message...Perhaps most unforgivably, 'Shooter' sidesteps an opportunity to delve into the ways gender roles, sexual assault, male chauvinism, and gun violence intersect."
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"'Shooter' distinguishes itself by being concerned less with guns and more with the people...The play splits itself three ways...Jim's time in the gun course, Jim's relationship to his childhood friends, and Jim's reckoning with what he's done...The play is at its strongest when it concerns itself with the first of these thread...I found myself yearning for a non-male perspective onstage...Limiting the number of perspectives constrains the play...Still, 'Shooter' makes a lot of smart choices."
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"A thoughtful portrayal of an alienated student shooter & a troubled adult...riveting & uncomfortable...strategically aimed at building intensity. Jim was the shooter outside a school that killed an armed student for which Jim is hailed heroic...A female student was also hit in the crossfire. The mounting isolation & rage in Jim's life is palpable...Joyless fanatics find sanctity of being from guns which provide purpose...The messaging hits the target."
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“Perhaps it takes a woman like director Katrin Hilbe to mount this work for maximum effect. It is a play about male bonding…Director Hilbe masterfully weaves dramatic moments together, careful to keep the five actors each in his own character…This riveting drama focuses attention on an issue of crucial importance in our world. It serves one prime purpose of theater, to make comfortable people uncomfortable.”
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"Skillfully written...Ean Sheehy gives a terrific performance as Jim, exposing the character’s journey with focus and clarity...However, both the playwright and the director overdo the intensity...Ms. Hilbe keeps her actors at the peak of intensity throughout the play...It’s great to find Mr. Graber examining the same subject in 'Shooter' for the contemporary audience, and in such an adroit production."
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