Los Angeles Times
- Somewhat Recommended
"...What gives "The Reservoir" a claim to uniqueness is the way Josh's four grandparents are conscripted not just into the story but into the staging. Seated in a row onstage, they serve as chorus to their grandson's travails, chiming in with their own opinions and acting out his description of the way his thoughts compulsively take over his mind, like an unstoppable train or a raging river."
Stage and Cinema
- Highly Recommended
"...Alcoholism and Alzheimer’s. What a combo. Sounds serious, right? They both are, of course. But in the hands of playwright Jake Brasch, The Reservoir at Geffen Playhouse pulls off a theatrical magic trick: a powerfully moving and poignantly funny play, melding millennial angst with elder wisdom and folly in a heart-warming and heartbreaking semi-autobiographical tale of recovery and tough love. It’s a two-act memory play with bite."
LA Splash
- Highly Recommended
"...This is pretty heavy stuff - which makes Brasch all the more devoted to seeing the family as people first and relatives second. At the same time, he has the ability to keep you laughing, sometimes through tears. Skillfully and delicately helmed by Shelley Butler, THE RESERVOIR is a moving and fascinating character study of a family in crisis - without a how-to book of solutions. A significant strength of the play is that the audience appreciates the goings-on and can still chuckle at the foibles of this zany crowd. It's also very likely that they resonate with the progression of the tale because they or someone close to them has been there. As such, Brasch has achieved one of his goals - to trigger the audience's memories about family. Let's hope that your grandma had all the answers to your questions."
Stage Scene LA
- Highly Recommended
"...Two talented Jakes make stunning Geffen Playhouse debuts in The Reservoir, Jake Brasch’s hilarious, heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful look at alcoholism and Alzheimer’s that has rising star Jake Horowitz standing in for the playwright in one of the year’s most captivating performances."
Angeles Stage
- Recommended
"...Jake Brasch's play at Geffen Playhouse, "The Reservoir," begins with young Josh (Jake Horowitz) - a student on medical leave from NYU - awakening from an alcoholic bender on the beach at Cherry Creek Reservoir, a few miles southeast of Denver. Josh grew up nearby (and the play's first production was from Denver Center Theatre Company in January)."
LA Theatrix
- Recommended
"...These stories and perspectives are refreshing. Though Josh is a somewhat flawed character, it's eye-opening and interesting to get his thoughts and understand his experience of alcoholism. Thanks to Horowitz's portrayal, he feels like a real person, both smart and funny. If we could care about him as we do his grandmothers, the experience could be moving as well."
TheaterMania
- Recommended
"...Josh, the protagonist of Jake Brasch's The Reservoir, is a screw-up-a hopeless alcoholic man-child without drive or self-respect. Yet it's hard to not want him to succeed, even if it seems unfathomable. That makes The Reservoir-having its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse-a quirky but poignant dramedy that could nevertheless use a few fixes."
Ticket Holders LA
- Highly Recommended
"...The world premiere of The Reservoir at the Geffen heralds the auspicious professional playwrighting debut of Jake Brasch, someone with a unique ability to reveal more autobiographical shit about himself than even Jonathan Safran Foer could call forth-and who with this play instantly emerges as a major dramatist with a career to watch as it rockets to the heights."
Indulge Magazine
- Highly Recommended
"...In "The Reservoir," now running at the Geffen Playhouse, playwright Jake Brasch takes the raw materials of addiction, aging, and memory loss-and spins them into something unexpectedly buoyant, deeply moving, and shot through with sharp wit. What begins with a hungover twenty-something on the banks of Denver's Cherry Creek unfolds into a poignant meditation on what it means to lose your grip-on your past, your control, your mind-and to find unexpected salvation in the least likely of lifeboats: your grandparents."
Larchmont Buzz
- Highly Recommended
"...The Reservoir's emotions are all over the place. Fantasies are acted out. What begins as a simple look at a millennial loser grows and grows, to cover ageing and growing up, parenting and grandparenting, addiction and recovery in deep and powerful ways. The script, by Jake Brasch, and direction, by Shelley Butler, are superb in beautifully interlocking ways, building the character arcs and larger lessons subtly and memorably. The set design, by Takeshi Kata, and lighting design, by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, take it all to a higher level."
Broadway World
- Highly Recommended
"...THE RESERVOIR is a new play by Jake Brasch about family, memory and healing. And you can't help but see the descriptive similarities between Brasch and his lead character, Josh. It almost seemed a bit autobiographical sitting orchestra-close with Josh intimately in view. All the behavior details of this play are really, "informed". And again, I was right. (Pat my own shoulder) In an interview with the Concord Theatricals Publication, Breaking Character, Brasch states, "I set out to write a drama about dementia science and ended up with a semi-autobiographical comedy about recovery, family, memory and Jazzercize.""
