Best Local Production of 2008

Justin Hayford, Chicago Reader

"Theater devotees know the swoon—that rapturous transport when every element of a production coalesces (or, more often, when the acting and direction is so persuasive that the cheap set and crappy costumes fade into irrelevance) and something true about the human soul is revealed. About a dozen shows in 2008 gave me the swoon, among them Profiles Theatre’s nerve-racking In a Dark, Dark House, Building Stage’s crafty Dracula, Goat Island’s wistful The Lastmaker, and Factory Theater’s ludicrous Ren Faire. But few shows I’ve ever seen have sent me into a deeper swoon than TUTA’s Uncle Vanya.