Critical Commentary
On the direction
and writing of the play, “It’s What
We Do”: A Play about the Occupation:
“This is an
extraordinary work of theater—disturbing in the most
important sense that it provokes real-time reckoning with
real-world morals and places the meaning of human emotions
center stage. “It’s What
We Do”: A Play About the Occupation
is a
play that one must think about and talk about after. But
first and foremost, it must be seen.”
--John Stoltenberg, DC Metro Theater Arts, July 11,
2015
On a screening of the 3 documentaries, Letters from Cairo,
Dreaming in Morocco, and Desert in the
Coffeehouse (Chicago):
“The short documentaries are
the fruit of Nice’ s several sojourns to the Middle East.
They record the reactions of Egyptians to an American
invasion and the aspirations of several Moroccan teenagers.
Then, in a cringe-inducing coda, Nice turns the camera back
on the United States.
Her second film [Dreaming in
Morocco] is . . . altogether rougher
on the heartstrings. In a stunning contrast, she recounts
the desperation of an unemployed youth detained for
illegally immigrating to Spain and an uplifting account of
optimistic students craving PhDs from the West.
The footage she produces—young people talking about Islam
as a religion of peace—is shown in opposition to the words
of a suit we see later in a Minnesotan coffee shop
[Desert
in the Coffeehouse], who calls the entire region
“backward and inhumane.”
--Christopher Riehle, Chicago Weekly (University of
Chicago) Nov. 30, 2011
On the film directing and
script for Sadja,
staged by Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre:
“…a cheeky movie [opens the work] in which a banal TV
interviewer (Peter Moore at his unctuous best) interviews
her, or at least someone who thinks she’s Frieda Kahlo (Di
Palma). It’s a wry bit of filmmaking (by Pamela Nice) that
sets out all the possibilities of self-parody inherent in
such a piece. Then it undercuts them by happily chatting
about suffering and pain and the joy of death creating a
flamboyant caricature….”
--Mike Steele, Star Tribune
On Direction for Death and the Maiden
by Ariel Dorfman (Theatre Lagniappe):
“Lagniappe, one of the most promising new companies in
town, has assembled an exceptionally fine cast of seasoned
local actors for its initial production . . . . ‘Death
and the Maiden’ is emotionally wrenching,
psychologically complex, crackling good theatre. The
subject may be torture, but the result is sublime.” --Tad
Simons, Twin Cities Reader
“In telescoping systematic brutality down to a trio of
individuals, this play—brought to life in a gripping
production by Lagniappe—is one of the most stirring,
profound pieces of theatre you’ll see this year.”—Carolyn
Petrie, City Pages
As You Like It, by William Shakespeare (Theatre in
the Round):
“Director Pamela Nice has set the tale about love’s
itchings in the oh-so-American ‘80’s—and, with hardly a
blink, it works. Both purists and those who panic at the
hint of Culture can find much to enjoy in her spunky,
ebulliently physical, high-spirited reading, which takes a
poke at today’s yuppie culture and its narcissistic
preoccupations but doesn’t harp or depend on this
transposition for its charm.”—Carla Waldemar, Twin Cities
Reader
Good, by C.P. Taylor (Theatre in the Round):
“TRP’s production, under Pamela Nice’s strong direction,
finds the play’s humor and power. Nice lets it unfold in a
slow crescendo that heightens the final impact of Halder’s
seduction and asks audiences to examine themselves and ask,
‘What would I have done?’”—Peter Vaughan, Star Tribune
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, by Tom
Stoppard (Shakespeare Company):
“Nice gets all the humor she can from the play, but she
never allows it to deteriorate into a mere laugh machine.
There’s a foundation of seriousness underneath all that
humor . . . . "-- Robert Collins, St. Paul Pioneer Press
