Star Tribune - Recommended

"...Despite that caveat, Orlando has created a powerful and arresting drama with “The Reagan Years.” Rather than a bald political statement, he’s crafted a subtly ironic portrait of the ethos of an era, carefully revealing the moral ambiguity that underlies that era’s go-go optimism. It makes for a gripping and unpredictable evening."
Read Full Review

Twin Cities Pioneer Press - Somewhat Recommended

"...Orlando's bitterly comic play is going places, but his direction is not quite as sure-footed. He makes smart use of the black-box space at the Playwrights' Center, disconcerting the audience by placing us in the middle of the action, and there's a potent image of one of the roommates, Moth, standing in front of the set's enormous backdrop of a Betsy Ross flag, echoing its colors with his white T-shirt, blue jeans and hands dripping bright red blood (that flag is a nice reminder of ideals that have been misplaced since the 13 colonies joined). But two of the six exits on the set bamboozle the actors because they're too narrow to use comfortably, and Paul Lanave's performance as the least motivated of the roomies is often funny, but he's so hunched and mannered that he seems to be performing a one-man show about Peter Lorre."
Read Full Review

How Was The Show - Recommended

"..."Greed is good,” Michael Douglas intoned in 1987 and the denizens of The Reagan Years would likely agree – if they could ever get themselves sober. Rich boy Guy Boyd is not a playboy; playboys have more fun than he does. But Boyd has nonetheless acquired an entourage, a gang of fellow students sharing his estate (one of several houses owned by Boyd’s doting Daddy). The real world beckons and the lads are trying to rise above the pot-smoke and vodka fumes and face an unfeeling Future. One feels hope only for Moth, creator of the flag (Michael Hanna provides an oddly compelling reading of this role). The others, well, who knows. Even in the 80s one had to stand without weaving."
Read Full Review