Southernmost Reviews
Stage and Cinema- Recommended
"...Director Jon Lawrence Rivera inventively keeps things urgent and believable. This isn't an adventure story, yet whether the characters will get out alive is the narrative meat of the evening. Sound designer Jesse Mandapat and lighting designer Lily Bartenstein do marvelous work making the environmental conditions feel dangerously real."
Stage Scene LA- Highly Recommended
"...A big-city transplant returns to the small Hawaiian town her parents still call home for a volcanic family reunion in Mary Lyon Kamitaki's highly entertaining generation-gap/culture-clash dramedy Southernmost, the latest Playwrights' Arena World Premiere."
Stage Raw- Somewhat Recommended
"...Veteran director Jon Lawrence Rivera does strong moment-to-moment work with the actors, but he can't disguise the playwright's struggle to make her dramatic points, especially where the two young women characters are concerned. Jessica, the girlfriend, simply puts up with way more discomfort and derision than I can believe in. Kimberly Alexander, fresh off of her mind-blowing performance in Stockholm, does everything she can with the role, but the writing is too generalized and there are too many holes to shore up. Who is Jessica? What's her job, what are her interests? Why is she with Charlene? While there are some brief "answers," the character often feels like a prop and afterthought, not fully imagined or explored."