Grangeville Reviews
Los Angeles Times- Highly Recommended
"...this hypnotically absorbing drama is acted with enormous skill. LeBeau never hits a false note as Jerry in a performance that has the rough vulnerability of a Shepard master class à la “True West” or “Curse of the Starving Class.”"
Stage and Cinema- Highly Recommended
"...Grangeville, his two-hander at the Ruskin Group Theatre, puts an ocean between its brothers and a continent on top of that. Jerry (Jeff LeBeau) never left Idaho. Arnold (Tim Cummings) fled to the Netherlands more than fifteen years ago: he makes visual art, or used to, before his marriage started fraying and his work stopped coming. For most of ninety minutes, the brothers talk by phone and video call. Their faces arrive in fragments."
LA Splash- Recommended
"...Stephanic Kerley Schwartz’s scenic and costume design are excellent accompaniments to the bleak tale being told in a shadowy and unyielding space. Dan Weingarten’s lighting and Keith Stevenson’s sound are crucial to maintain forever twilight in their lives. Author Hunter is a master at creating just the right circumstances to lead to insight – even if the insight goes unexpressed. He has excelled in this piece. Those who enjoy deeply moving character development will certainly appreciate GRANGEVILLE."
Stage Scene LA- Highly Recommended
"...Can two brothers estranged for over half their lives possibly find a path back towards reconciliation after decades of accumulated pain, anger and resentments? It is this question that is at the heart of Grangeville, Idaho-born-and-bred playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s most recent mini-Midwest-masterpiece, now getting an absolutely superb West Coast Premiere at the Ruskin Group Theatre."
ArtsBeatLA- Highly Recommended
"...Grangeville at Ruskin Group Theatre features some of the best acting you’ll see onstage this year, and it’s one of the strongest productions of 2026."
Stage Raw- Highly Recommended
"...An actor’s dream, Grangeville, now in its West Coast premiere at the Ruskin Group Theater, provides a tour-de-force opportunity for Cummings and LeBeau. Under the astute, unshowy guidance of veteran director John Perrin Flynn, they turn in two of the most layered and heart-rending performances you are likely to see this season."
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
"...Anyone would think it would be easy to review a play that is staged to absolute perfection on all levels including the script, director, actors, and overall technical brilliance. But I am finding it difficult to effectively share my overwhelming emotional reaction to the intense story of two half-brothers who are more like strangers than siblings as the play begins, living half a world away from each other who must try to communicate with via phone calls when their mother is in the final stages of her life. And if you are dealing with, or have also dealt with, a similar family (or close friends) situation, I guarantee your reaction will be exactly the same as mine when you experience the magnificent West Coast premiere of Samuel D. Hunter’s play Grangeville at the Ruskin Group Theatre Arts Center in Santa Monica through July 19."