Acclaim for Brett Epstein

                                   Acting:

The director draws out some striking performances, especially from Mr. Epstein, as a man frustrated by failures not of his own making.

-Neil Genzlinger (New York Times) || Naperville 

The perfect blend of comedy, charm and anxiety.

Epstein brings his signature wit and charm to the stage, captivating the audience from start to finish. His comedic timing is impeccable, and his storytelling skills are top-notch. He seamlessly blends humor with moments of genuine introspection. His ability to be vulnerable and honest really connects him with the audience, making Alone on Stage not just a performance but an experience.

Alone on Stage is a versatile, humorous, and super-engaging show that guarantees a great time. It is a must-see for anyone looking for an exceptionally entertaining performance.

-Yanni Perez (All About Solo) || Brett Epstein: Alone on Stage

It is Brett Epstein as Rick, the Nerd of the title, who has the most elaborate character to play. Epstein gives a world-class performance.

-J. Peter Bergman (Berkshire Edge) || The Nerd

This group works and plays beautifully together. Epstein, of course, is the standout here – if he wasn’t, the play would falter – and what a show he puts on for us. His Rick is completely cringeworthy in the absolute best way. Playing it serious against Epstein can’t be easy.”

-Amy Durant (The Alt) || The Nerd

[The character] Rick may know no bounds but Epstein is shrewdly aware of bounds in a performance that knows just how far it can go without losing an audience.”

-Jeffrey Borak (Berkshire Eagle) || The Nerd

In the largest of the supporting roles, Brett Epstein plays [an] office buddy, giving a truthful and funny performance.

-Steve Capra (New York Theatre) || Navigator in Love

Out of seven very talented actors, I would especially acknowledge Brett Epstein [who] takes on the function of comic relief.

-Asya Danilova (Theatre is Easy) || Navigator in Love

Brett Epstein creates some great, expressively and often exasperatedly comic beats as he tries to protect the protagonist from himself.

-Leah Richards (Culture Catch) || Navigator in Love

Brett Epstein does anxiety with panache.

-Joel Benjamin (TheaterScene.Net) || Navigator in Love

The cast is uniformly funny, with the best acting coming from Brett Epstein.

Epstein (hilarious in last summer’s “Leading Ladies”) plays the fidgety Agent Frank.

-Jack Felix (The Sun Gazette) || Unnecessary Farce

Brett Epstein makes every scene funnier by just being there.

-Wendy Stiver (The Express) || Unnecessary Farce

Brett Epstein is funny in handling the Narrator chores.

-Jack Felix (The Express) || Rocky Horror Show

Spear-headed by writer-performer Brett Epstein, the actors are skilled at blending farce with poignancy.

Ingenious, lively, touching.

-Ethan Kanfer (New York Theater Reviews) || Best of Rule of

A top-notch cast.

Leading the cast [is] Brett Epstein as Jack/Stephanie. With eye-rolling and facial expressions, Epstein is a picture of frustration. Decked out in a red wig and silly dresses, he also has to act “deaf and dumb” until a “miracle” happens.

The playhouse is well-advised to try to hold this cast together to reprise this season’s likely hottest ticket.

-Jack Felix (Williamsport Sun Gazette) || Leading Ladies

Really terrific acting by Brett Epstein.

-Arpita Mukherjee (StageBuddy) || Rule of 7×7: Almost Summer Edition

As T.C., Brett Epstein is a live-wire of caffeinated energy, comedic quirks, and a thinly concealed anal-retentive mania. Epstein brings all his physical and verbal gifts to the role, making the café manager as a dazzling standout among a great ensemble.

-Aurin Squire (New York Theatre Review) || Naperville 

Mr. Epstein shines as the manager who is too nice and loses too much because of a self-obsessed world.

-Suzanna Bowling (Times Square Chronicles) || Naperville 

An endearingly neurotic Brett Epstein. Excellent comedic performances.

-Jason Rost (Theatre is Easy) || Naperville 

A magnificent cast. Brett Epstein’s unique comic presence, as the barista and newly appointed manager of Caribou Coffee, endeared him to the audience.

-Navida Stein (StageBuddy) || Naperville 

Epstein demonstrates both great physicality and timing. A sterling performance.

-Doug Strassler (Garden State Journal) || Naperville 

All the Naperville actors are extremely good.

-David Finkle (Huffington Post) || Naperville 

Brett Epstein as Boss [is a] much needed reprieve, bringing much of the humor in the play.

Notably, Brett Epstein is hysterical as Boss; he belittles and emasculates the already defeated Colin, while still managing to win your heart. 

-Bianca Garcia  (Stage Buddy) || The Tunnel Play

Epstein is funny and cutting as Colin’s belligerent boss.

-Jason Grossman  (NY Theater Now) || The Tunnel Play

The cast is brilliant. The entire cast is committed, living fully in their roles. Brett Epstein’s middle class obsessive Boss marginalizes without malice.

-William Glenn  (FringeReview) || The Tunnel Play

Brett Epstein brought the funny.

-Michael Block  (Theater in the Now) || The Tunnel Play

Buddy, Stein’s co-worker, is played by Brett Epstein.  He relentlessly maintains a non-stop, upbeat, chatterbox, golf-obsessed persona.  With appropriately maddening consistency, he serves this up with the breezy skill of many a famed character actor from classic movie comedies.

-Jay Reisberg  (Culture Catch) || Franklin Stein

…Epstein’s hilarious, quirky/off-kilter deliveries.

-Jordan Swisher (Theatre is Easy) || Franklin Stein

The comedically gifted [cast] could not be better or funnier.

[Epstein’s] 11th-hour appearance may well provoke the evening’s biggest, longest laugh … and that’s saying something considering how many big, long laughs there are.

-Stephen Stanley (StageScene LA) || Women

The members of the cast have absorbed their idiosyncratic bits of shtick and perform them to the hilt.

…with Brett Epstein taking on several smaller comic roles. (I especially like the bit when he turns up suddenly as the sisters’ brother, “Carl March,” acting as if he’d been there all the time.)

-Howard Miller (Talkin’ Broadway) || Women

A brilliant quirky cast.

Jacqueline’s lover, and her husband’s best friend (and didn’t you suspect that one?) Robert is played with aplomb by Brett Epstein who is funny just standing still and saying nothing.  So when he moves and speaks it is impossible to contain yourself.  In the second act he has a monologue that is so long Ayn Rand could have written it, and yet he delivers it like the Minute Waltz, makes it understandable and gets his laughs.  This is a talent not to be missed.

-J. Peter Bergman (Berkshire Bright Focus) || Don’t Dress for Dinner

Director Phil Rice keeps the action moving at a feverish pace with the actors proving particularly adept at comic reactions as the convoluted story keeps spinning further out of control.

Brett Epstein provides particular laughs as the best friend/lover as he responds to the mess.

-Jonathan Levine (Pittsfield Gazette) || Don’t Dress for Dinner

The Barn has [a] strong physical comic in Epstein… [He does] takes, double-takes, spit takes… Epstein is a dead ringer for a young Bill Dana.

-Gail M. Burns (Berkshire On Stage) || Don’t Dress for Dinner

Delivering a powerful performance, Brett Epstein demonstrates spot-on accurate comedic timing and a youthful enthusiasm that easily translates into theatrical, kinetic energy.  He is fun to watch and very entertaining…

I Loved Sam Stone delivers laughs a plenty with its lighthearted approach to very serious social issues of our day.

-Phil Rosenberg (Sex & Politics) || I Loved Sam Stone

Brett Epstein plays Floyd Spinner, getting plenty of laughs as the clueless tax auditor.

-Jack Felix (Williamsport Sun-Gazette) || Love, Sex and the IRS

Brett Epstein almost stole the show as the IRS man. You have to see it to believe it.

-Pat Park (POV Theatre) || Love, Sex and the IRS

Brett Epstein, once again, almost steals the show.

-Pat Park (POV Theatre) || The Mousetrap

Brett Epstein, who scored laughs as the auditor in Love, Sex and the IRS gets his share of laughs as the eccentric architect Christopher Wren.

-Jack Felix (The Sun-Gazette) || The Mousetrap

…And it was Brett Epstein’s portrayal of the persistent suitor Cohen (with a “K!”) that really made the play for me. The way he flawlessly played his quirky character and all of the subtle physical humor the role entailed added to the entire performance.

-Alison DeNisco (The Cowl) || The Underpants

                                   Writing:

Brilliant. Sharply written.

-Theresa Perkins (My Entertainment World) || The Song is for Lisa

Emotionally compelling.

Even if in the grand scheme of things, teenage friendships don’t seem to matter as much as life-and-death stakes, Epstein convinces us that in fact… they do.

-James Armstrong (Armstrong Plays) || The Song is for Lisa

Brett Epstein shows he is as smart a playwright as he is a talented one.

Epstein’s play is so splendidly scripted… the audience is won over from the word go.

Rating: GOLD. Honorable Mention: Best Comedy in Hollywood Fringe Festival.

-Ernest Kearney  (The TVolution) || #WhaleFail

The character Bridget, written by Brett Epstein, is a real accomplishment.

Refreshing. The drama and set-ups in #WhaleFail are spot-on and inventive.

-Patrick Chovis  (LA Theatre Bites) || #WhaleFail

Epstein crafts characters that are common, but not generic.

Scenes don’t feel rushed, they breathe and speech progresses through organically leading into the next plot point.

Excellent dialogue and a strong theme.

-Benjamin Schwartz  (Gia on the Move) || #WhaleFail

A fresh talent and a unique voice.

If you don’t know who Brett Epstein is, you should crawl out from under your rock and get educated. It’s a name you’ll hear often.

-Michael Block  (Theater in the Now) || Crisis: Ocean Planet

Character development was impressively handled in Brett Epstein’s Now & Then: The Male Version. The play encapsulated the magic of theatre in an intimate setting.

Epstein, who also produces the series, programmed the plays in excellent order, opting for the most human and least gimmicky work at the end.

-Arpita Mukherjee  (Stage Buddy) || Rule of 7×7: Almost Summer Edition

The kind of theater experience where you leave in buoyant spirits…

A continuous stream of laughs…

The writing was clever and succinct — an exuberant exercise of the imagination.

A chance to see what the next generation of stars might look like. SNL scouts mights want to stop by.

-Bob Criso  (Hi! Drama) || Rule of 7×7: Almost Summer Edition

An electrifying comedic experience…

Brett Epstein’s Now & Then: The Male Version is full of laughter, witty remarks, and delightful character backstories.

-Steven Scott  (ReviewFix) || Rule of 7×7: Almost Summer Edition

The witty inside jokes Epstein offers in Now & Then: The Male Version are quite good.

-Michael Block  (Theater in the Now) || Rule of 7×7: Almost Summer Edition

Brett Epstein’s Improv With Old People is a stunner. Fiercely comic and ultimately moving.

-Jack Mauro  (Stage Buddy) || Rule of 7×7: May Edition

Brett Epstein’s Community Service portrays the humor in the incomparable mixture of the disjunctive vernacular and the distorted logic of teenagers.

-Garrett Buhl Robinson (Ask a New Yorker) || Community Service

Brett Epstein’s Back is a harrowing psychological play that acts out the tempestuous and inexplicable behavior that can arise from underlining traumas from a person’s past.

-Garrett Ruhl Robinson (Ask a New Yorker) || Back

These six shorts take place in various milieus but maintain Epstein’s unmistakable style…

At the core, like most good theatre, these are plays about relationships between people (based on REAL people!), drawn with clarity and care by Epstein. The playwright marries humor with heart in all of his scripts, and always with a signature flair. Epstein also has a knack for translating cinematic sensibilities into theatrical terms.

-Joseph Samuel Wright (TheaterOnline.com) || Based on Your True Story

Kept the audience laughing from beginning to end… The interplay between Brett Epstein and Matt Stango was hilarious… Their quick-paced humor kept the judges and the audience on the edge of their seats.

-Diana DeRosa (The Examiner) || We Want Your Baby

Although it is just a workshop performance for now, it is clear that Set in the City can be transitioned into a comedic play in the future.  Epstein’s portrayals of his experiences in the city are laced with plenty of humor.

Although the space was small, it was booming with energy.

-Lucine Kozinian (Cranston Patch) || Set in the City

This is a touching and funny play.  Brett Epstein has written and performs in a story that will surely bring you back to college days.

Thanks to the nurturing of new plays at The Tank, this piece has found an appreciative audience, who were roaring with laughter for two hours.

-Ed Malin (NYTheatre.com) || I Loved Sam Stone

We very much enjoyed the humor of the piece and particularly the multi-layered creation of [the character] Ben.

-Ensemble Studio Theatre || I Loved Sam Stone