GOSPEL ACCORDING TO FIRST SQUAD: 100% – SWEET

Jonathan Redding, A.J. Meijer in "Gospel According to First Squad" at the Powerhouse Theatre. Credit: Rafael Tongol.

SWEET
A prismatic glimpse into an ever-shifting conflict and culture, this “Gospel” is chapter and verse one of the finest war plays in recent memory.
F. Kathleen Foley – LA Times

SWEET
Yes, it’s another war play, but the first act moves so swiftly and the themes are presented so seamlessly, you find yourself gasping rather than groaning.
Rebecca Haithcoat – LA Weekly

SWEET
Danika Sudik’s staging is intensely paced and polished, with more than a handful of crisply drawn characterizations woven into an intricate tapestry.
Don Shirley – LA Stage Watch

SWEET
Luckily for Burmester, he has one of the finest and most committed ensemble casts performing on any Los Angeles stage this year to further propel his disheartening, occasionally gruesome, and urgently important treatise.
Travis Michael Holder – Backstage

SWEET
Perhaps the greatest testament to Los Angeles Theater Ensemble is that Gospel According to First Squad paves the way for a consideration of the political issues at stake, more than the elements of the theatrical performance itself. Burmester’s script feels a little stylistically disjunct from Act I to Act II, but the roaring ideological debates, crisp direction, and stellar ensemble performances are continually compelling. One of the most challenging and important new works currently running in Los Angeles, Gospel According to First Squad is worth the time – and even more worth the post-show thought and discussion.
Sarah Taylor Ellis – Compositions on Theatre

SWEET
This gritty play is the latest in Burmester’s trilogy called War Circle, takes us to Afghanistan in 2009 and hits you like a punch in the gut.
Ingrid Wilmot – Will Call

SWEET
Audiences should be prepared for “language”, if you know what I mean, but also some super perfor- mances, a fair bit of young buck posturing, some blood and gore, some laughter, pain, tears, a lot of shouting, but a great deal of respect for the material.
Madeleine Shaner – Park La Brea News/Beverly Press (opens in pdf)

SWEET
Gospel According To First Squad’s thoroughly engrossing ninety-minute Act One details the events leading up to the gory clash of Act Two’s edge-of-your- seat half hour, making for as gripping an evening of theater you’re likely to have all year.
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO FIRST SQUAD
Presented by the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble
Powerhouse Theatre
3116 2nd St., Santa Monica
Thursdays-Saturdays 8 p.m.
EXTENDED THROUGH SEP. 23, 2011, ALL TICKETS NOW “PAY WHAT YOU CAN”
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.