Los Angeles Times - Recommended
"...The trip is worth it, even if you leave confused. It's OK to be occasionally bewildered in the theater. A temporary cessation in interpretive control can open new cognitive portals. "Evanston" may be too indulgently idiosyncratic to be considered a major work, but the play's offbeat appeal has a way of creating community out of thin air - or perhaps I should say out of a shared sensibility for wayward human comedy."
Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Under Guillermo Cienfuegos' precise direction, these four lost souls perform an intricate dance of denial and revelation on Mark Mendelson's deceptively naturalistic set. The wide Matrix Theatre stage becomes a purgatorial landscape where the mundane (a break room, a bedroom, a salt truck) collides with the cosmic, aided by Dan Weingarten's lighting that somehow makes you feel both freezing and feverish, often within the same scene."
LA Splash - Highly Recommended
"...Skillfully helmed by Guillermo Cienfuegos, EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING is a mish-mosh of complex issues focused on four imperfect people determined to keep their private thoughts and dreams private - at all costs. The talented cast does an excellent job of delineating each character while studying the dynamics that drive them together - and apart. Another star in the production is definitely the production team, led by Mark Mendelson's scenic design keeping the snow whirling about and the cold seeping into your bones."
Stage Scene LA - Not Recommended
"...Ultimately, however, phenomenal performances and sensational designs can only go so far when a script doesn’t hit the mark, and for me at least, Evanston Salt Costs Climbing is a major miss."
Angeles Stage - Somewhat Recommended
"...The play's West Coast premiere is from Rogue Machine, at the Matrix Theatre on Melrose, where the company also staged Arbery's "Heroes of the Fourth Turning" in 2023. Guillermo Cienfuegos' adroit staging and eye-catching performances can't quite disguise the impression that the script's increasing surrealism eventually becomes a bit too thick."
ArtsBeatLA - Recommended
"...There is much to recommend in Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, from amazing performances to amusing writing, even if the play itself doesn't quite stick the landing."
On Stage Los Angeles - Highly Recommended
"...Author Will Arbery 's "Evanston Salt Costs Climbing"... Rogue Machine's first effort with new Artistic Director, Guillermo Cinefuentes, offers at least a partial answer to the question "What might happen if Samuel Beckett met Michael McClure's The Beard?" In Rogue Machine's West Coast Premiere, the voice of the playwright is heard clearly in each of his four strong eclectic characters whose dialogue turns on suicide, death, exitential angst and the issue of the best way to make the roads in Evanston, Illinois safe when the snows fly and the icy roads become slick and dangerous. It's a comedy of sorts."
Peoples World - Recommended
"...the four actors give us a superlative rendition of their roles, and the production values in this small but historic venue are very high. The audience kept their winter coats on all through the 95-minute show with the snow theatrically piling up around us, the wind howling, the temperature dropping, the prospects for the future positively chilling."
Ticket Holders LA - Highly Recommended
"...Rogue Machine's Evanston Salt Costs Climbing, its second mounting of a future chef-d'oeuvre by Will Arbery, whose Pulitzer finalist Heroes of the Fourth Turning was one of the best on any local stage in 2023, clearly solidifies that this writer-alongside the Road's own undeclared resident playwright Steve Yockey-will be among the O'Neills and Williamses and Millers of the 21st century."
Larchmont Buzz - Recommended
"...Director Guillermo Cienfuegos, in his first outing as Rogue Machine’s artistic director, excels at both the small, personal moments and big noisy drama. Will Arberry’s script nurtures its struggling characters, wishing them well, despite the odds against them, and teaching a few ecological lessons along the way."
Glamgical - Highly Recommended
"...With its mixture of reality, fiction, and loose ends, Evanston is not an easy play to stage. However, under the brilliant direction of Guillermo Cienfuegos and a talented cast, Will Arbery's characters come to life to offer an amusing story about...salt and technology."
Broadway World - Highly Recommended
"...Evanston Salt Costs Climbing is the Southern California premiere of a new drama at Rogue Machine through March 9th. This astounding new play by Will Arbery is about truckers who salt the roads in Evanston, Illinois, where the polar vortex just keeps driving the temperatures lower and making the snow more of a daily menace."