Stage and Cinema - Somewhat Recommended
"...Praise to the incredible quad of actors, who believably offer shrill teenagers yelling and talking over each other, full of passion and excitement. Center Theatre Group Associate Artistic Director Lindsay Allbaugh ensures a gorgeously designed show with special effects in the latter half, after which Scheer via the teens lets us know in no uncertain terms that it's about THEM and doing things THEIR WAY. Is this what the show was trying to say? While I'm pondering this, it may be time to snort some coke and have a seance to summon some playwrights who are not in the throes of experimentation, but have actually arrived."
LA Splash - Highly Recommended
"...OUR DEAR DEAD DRUG LORD mines the humorous and the grisly in equal portions. It may shock and even horrify some audience members – but it will never bore them. Skillfully directed by Lindsay Allbaugh, the production digs down deep as it explores these multifaceted kids who may be growing up too fast as they ride the roller coaster of burgeoning maturity."
Stage Scene LA - Somewhat Recommended
"...The four complex, authentic teen characters Alexis Scheer has created and the direction, performances, and design of Our Dear Dead Drug Lord’s West Coast Premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre are all so rave-worthy, it’s disappointing that the play’s gratuitously violent, deliberately unintelligible, and “WTF is that supposed to mean?” last twenty minutes are not."
ArtsBeatLA - Highly Recommended
"...A dark and atmospheric treehouse, a Ouija board and a quartet of hyperactive teenaged girls are the ingredients for this gripping and darkly funny play. In Alexis Scheer’s 90-minute drama Our Dear Dead Druglord, four teenage girls form a cultish friendship built around their fascination for the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. The drama explores the complex relationships between these girls as they grapple with issues of identity, sexuality, and power."
Stage Raw - Somewhat Recommended
"...Director Lindsay Allbaugh gets strong performances from her cast and stages scenes, such as the girls' dance practice, with visual flair. François-Pierre Couture's treehouse set is detailed and visually impressive. Scheer's writing, however, disappoints. I never believed a moment of the play's situations or relationships. Let's start with this: a group of teenage girls in 2008 meet in a treehouse to talk with the ghost of Pablo Escobar because they think he's sexy or could solve their problems? None of that passes the smell test. It might have if the writer had been going somewhere original with that premise, but instead we're given a tepid mix of teenage drama and supernatural hokum. The ending, which evokes the power of feminine rage, concludes the proceedings on a strong note, but it feels like unearned catharsis due to the weakness of the rest of the show."
Ticket Holders LA - Recommended
"...Beneath the humor, the gruesomeness, the many shocks that continuously unfold throughout Our Dear Deep Drug Lord, Alexis Scheer’s haunting play is about the strength and power—and yes, the magic—inherent in what has long been somewhat condescendingly referred to as our fairer sex."
