Buried Child
AstonRep Theatre Company
“The ghosts of O’Neill, Williams, and Steinbeck are definitely in the air, but Shepard’s thematic preoccupations are front and center as well—decaying family structures, the inherent instabilities within masculine identity, and the expansive emptiness of the American plains. Director Derek Bertelsen and his cast and crew make a complicated drama riveting.”
— Matt Simonette, Chicago Reader
The Children’s Hour
Pride Films & Plays
“[The Children’s Hour] has been resurrected by Pride Films and Plays in a smart and physically spare but muscular production under Derek Bertelsen's direction…What's striking in Bertelsen's intimate staging, in which the audience is seated on four sides of the small square playing area, is that we get at least fleeting glimpses of how lies of all stripes are suffocating the characters and stripping them of their better impulses.”
— Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
Equus
AstonRep Theatre Company
“In the hands of Director Derek Bertelsen and this cast it is a thriller…If you admire top notch acting, Equus is a top pick for your time.”
— Amy Muncie, Picture this Post
The Children’s Hour
Pride Films & Plays
“A crisp revival by Pride Films and Plays…Director Derek Bertelsen wisely sidesteps the play’s vintage baggage and scenery-chewing potential and focuses on the action on stage, aided by an austere, intimate in-the-round staging and truthful performances.”
— Megan Powell, Time Out Chicago
Doubt
AstonRep Theatre Company
“Derek Bertelsen, a talented young director to watch, has directed this taut, riveting production that opens powerfully and continues at breakneck speed, like an avalanche increasing in size and speed rolling uncontrollably downhill and destroying everything in its path. Bertelsen’s quartet of actors, particularly Alexandra Bennett as an uncompromising, take-no-prisoners Sister Aloysius, leave no doubt as to the power of this production."
— Colin Douglas, Centerstage
The Laramie Project
AstonRep Theatre Company
“What Bertelsen and his cast don't lose sight of is that it's not possible to pin down one definitive narrative on what Matthew Shepard's life and death meant for Laramie and beyond…This AstonRep production serves as an appropriate anniversary elegy for Shepard, and also offers a glimmer of hope that even in our own dark times, some better angels will step forward.”
— Kerry Reid, Windy City Times
The Lieutenant of Inishmore
AstonRep Theatre Company
“Derek Bertelsen has once again worked his directorial magic and made this quirky, dark drama pulsate with the necessary irreverence and eccentricity that eventually begins to seem almost normal. Running at full tilt, Mr. Bertelsen provides a trivial few seconds for audiences to register shock to each bout of blood, guts, gunfire and inhumanity that flows like the River Shannon throughout this 90-minute one-act.”
— Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review
Buried Child
AstonRep Theatre Company
“It’s Derek Bertelsen's deft staging and his guidance of an excellent ensemble cast that make this surreal nightmare so haunting. This is a production that may dwell in our dreams and torment theatergoers long time after the final curtain."
— Colin Douglas, Chicago Theatre Review
Design for Living
Pride Films & Plays
“Pride Films and Plays offers a sturdy and enjoyable revival under Derek Bertelsen's direction that puts a little comic sparkle and pop into the increasingly chillier autumn nights.”
— Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
The Laramie Project
AstonRep Theatre Company
“Director Bertelsen’s efforts with them [the actors] shines through every word of this play, and the final image as “Doc” describes the physical beauty of Laramie is a lovely effect…The Laramie Project is one of those shows where the script alone almost assures a strong production, but this is one of the finest you could see. Every element comes together in perfect harmony to make the horrifying and emotional tale stay with you long after the play ends. It is a moving example of what theatre can be.”
— Karen Topham, ChicagoOnstage
Roast
The Comrades
“This is a play for those who hunger for an unflinching meditation on the many forms that selfishness can take and the fragility of the human mind with a side of comedy. Audiences looking for a jaunty, light hearted romp may wish to look elsewhere.”
— Spence Warren, Picture This Post