Lottery Day

★★★★/4 “Holter reveals to us a city with troubles but an unshakeable force of personality, a town here trying to party away its own inequities, failing at that but maybe finding some sort of shared future — in what’s now a new day for the City of Chicago. The villains in Holter’s head are in retreat. Maybe."

- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“Lottery Day brings Ike Holter’s Chicago Cycle to a triumphant close... It promises hope on the other side of defeat... A trademark of Holter's style is how nimbly he telescopes between the broad themes and sophisticated nuances of his subjects. Lottery Day is at once a meditation on personal loss and a community grieving its end.”

- Chicago Reader

“Lottery Day is both a farewell to this world and a very conscious crescendo. Where the six previous entries connected only at their edges, with fleeting mentions of plot points elsewhere in the shared universe acting like Easter eggs for die-hard collectors, Lottery Day actually brings together characters from each of the prior plays along with a few new faces to close out this story. It’s a carefully plotted crossover event: the Avengers: Endgame of the Holterverse."

- Storefront Rebellion

“Holter has stated that he wants to raise Chicago’s profile in the theater world and beyond, to see his city as a complex character in the stories that take place within its wards. Time will tell if he gets his wish... Regardless of what the future holds, for those of us lucky enough to come along for the ride, it’s been a sincere pleasure and a hell of a good time. After many, many words written, there seems to be only one appropriate thing left to say: Thank you."

- Newcity

LOTTERY DAY

 Ike Holter concludes his acclaimed seven-play “Rightlynd Saga” by assembling his vibrant characters for a raucous theatrical bash. Long the matriarch of a quickly gentrifying neighborhood, Mallory invites the lonely residents, hardcore activists and starving artists of her block to what she hopes will go down as a legendary barbeque—thanks to a special surprise. But her mysterious plan to revitalize the community may be the very thing that tears it apart.