Broadway World - Somewhat Recommended
"...Close to three hours of crazy behavior, with doses of disgusting, despicable action mixed in, make for an extremely intense, but trying evening experiencing The WhiteFire Theatre's production of Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child. Bryan Rasmussen has directed his committed and talented cast to play the crazy of their respective characters. Fortunately for the audience, Leon Russom reaches beyond this straight forward direction and provides his Dodge as a full three-dimensional human being complete with flaws, dementia, and occasional bouts of clarity and wit."
Stage and Cinema - Not Recommended
"...This is a production unwise enough to banish its audience to a 90-degree Valley sidewalk twice for scene changes that change almost literally nothing. Certainly, it never changes into a coherent show."
Examiner - Recommended
"...Sam Shepard, perhaps the most prolific and greatest ranking playwrights of our time, with plays produced on and off Broadway, graces the stage with this particular production, with a high degree of drama, spectacle, and value."
The Tolucan Times - Recommended
"...The audience was riveted in a dazed silence as the daunting story unfolded."
NoHoArtsDistrict - Recommended
"...In the end, this "Buried Child," then, produced 35 years after the play won Shepard his only Pulitzer Prize, is the prolific playwright at his very best: naked, robust, and oh, so true. The Whitefire production is an ode to Shepard, ghosts and all, and a warning against sloth, envy and greed as only this American Aristotle could pen it."
Topanga Messenger - Recommended
"...Anyone who says theatre is dead in the Valley needs to drop everything and go see this new production of Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-Winning play. This is a landmark production, perfectly cast and beautifully produced by Scott Disharoon."
Gia on the Move - Recommended
"...It was a flawless performance by leading man Leon Russom, in the astounding Whitefire Theatre production of Buried Child. One of American playwright Sam Shepard's darker plays, Buried Child originally won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 launching Shepard to national fame as a playwright. Thirty-five years later, this story has not lost a single shred of its merit or its impact."
Joe Straw #9 - Somewhat Recommended
"...Although this is a strong cast, there were a lot of opening night jitters, moments not jelling, overlapping and missed dialogue and other miscues, including one actor creating new dialogue. One doesn't like to see this on opening night but actors get in and out of trouble all the time, it happens. Also, there is more creativity to be had here from all of the characters. And I realize this is Sam Shepard but all actors must have strong objectives, even if misguided, I want to see where each actor is taking the character. Still, there is a lot to like about this production and by the time you read this, the actors will have settled into their roles and grown more confident with more production nights under their belt."
Cynthia Citron - Recommended
"...Bryan Rasmussen directed Buried Child with a uniformly outstanding cast, but the play was three hours long with two intermissions in which the crew only swept the floor. Surely the junk on the floor could have been dispatched more expeditiously than removing the entire audience twice."
