Reviewer Alan Bresloff makes a good observation in the review: For marketing purposes, Heroes and Villains was billed as a romantic comedy. Which it really isn’t. I usually describe Heroes as a drama that once in a while surprises you by being funny and/or tender. Hats off to Mr. Bresloff for looking beyond our marketing tricks and “getting” the play for what it is. Read the review.

As an NPR member, I was particularly interested to hear what the folks at WBEZ, the Chicago NPR affiliate, had to say. They seemed to enjoy it. Give ‘er a listen.

Centerstage gave the show a nice review, highlighting that Wendi is a great actress, Peter is sexy, and Danny is one hell of a good enigma. Read the review.

The show is a critic’s pick in this week’s Chicago Reader. The Reader was always the first place I went to for reviews when I lived in the Chi. Today, I am reminded why. Read the review.

NewCity’s Stage section  listed Heroes and Villains today as a recommended pick. I couldn’t agree more. Read the review.

The pilot for HUGE, a show that I wrote and developed with my friends at Jam* media, just went online at Jaman.com. For folks that are familiar with my play Heroes and Villains, it’s worth mentioning before you watch that HUGE is a 180-degree departure.

I googled around and it seems that there’s a whole mess of sites that carried our press release for the Jaman launch. Gotta love that online-content feeding frenzy. Visit jaman.com/hugetheshow to watch the trailer, the webisodes, get the widget, and do whatever else the kids are into doing online today. The Jaman folks are good people, but between you and me, I think they kinda gimped the trailer a bit. Prefer the lower-res cut that we’ve got up at jamstar.tv. Either way, well-done fellows. More to come.

Didn’t really want to talk about this part of the play’s development until after we opened. But we had a pretty amazing “behind the scenes” that involved two very excellent actors: Richard Cotovsky and Len Bajenski.

We looked high and low to find the right guy to play “Bobby,” one of our key roles. And we found it in Len, a retired Chicago cop, an excellent actor, and a frickin’ hilarious guy to be around. Once we cast Len, things really started falling into place.

Len gave us a hell of a scare a few weeks ago. He had a heart attack. Believe it or not, he was back at rehearsal two days later, telling Anthony our director, “You’re not going to get rid of me that easy.” Typical Len, a tough guy’s tough guy to the end.

We would have been thrilled to have him back. And it was tough, really tough, to lose Len. But thank goodness Len wised up and listened to his wife and his doctors. The guy needed some time to recover and your health’s always got to come first. Back to the play though, we were barely a week from first previews and had a gaping hole in our cast. Bobby is an integral role, a storyteller supreme, who anchors a number of scenes.

One door closed, another opened in the casting of Rich, an acclaimed Chicago theater vet. Rich was not only was up to the task of learning all the lines, he also cut off his signature long hair and beard for us (although at the opening, he joked that it usually all grows back in a week).

When I saw the first preview on Friday, Rich was still doing the play with script in hand. But by Saturday, he was off-book and doing pretty well. By opening the guy was on and I think he’s only going to get better as we continue the run. Rich, you took on the challenge and you saved the play. Can’t thank you enough, man.

Len swung by the opening and trust me the guy looks more like a brickhouse than ever. Len, here’s to me coming up with a even better part for you in the next one.

I wrote one role and got to see two great actors bring it to life. What more could I ask for.