The Sound Inside press:
“On the other hand, a lack of visual information is a form of visual information; once you adjust to it, the dark created by the designers… becomes exceptionally expressive. Between black and jet black there’s room for a lot of drama.
New York Times, Jesse Green
Cromer has likewise forsworn, as a writer steers around clichés, any emotional underlining of the kind you typically get from costumes (David Hyman), sound (Daniel Kluger) and overacting. His principle seems to be that of fiction itself: to force an engagement between the author’s imagination and the reader’s. When you enter a story, especially one that is basically a mystery, you should do so almost naked, with as little information as possible.”
“Parker plays Bella Baird, a 53-year-old creative writing professor who lives and works in the most dismal of environments, courtesy of Alexander Woodward’s unsparing set designs. Her office is a gray cube with not a drop of color to give it a hint of life. Equally drained of life, her home offers no joy, not even a sense of comfort….Even her work wardrobe, supplied by David Hyman, is rendered in dark hues that reduce her to a slender shade who blends into the background of every room.”
Variety, Marilyn Stasio
“Vanishing projections (Aaron Rhyne), melancholy underscoring (Daniel Kluger), and costumes designed with a sense of heightened realism (David Hyman) match the tone of the play with exacting precision.”
Theatermania, David Gordon
“In costumer David Hyman’s casual clothes, Parker brings Rapp to life with a lovely looseness. She conveys Bella’s love of books, a devotion that overrides her interest in daily life.”
New York Stage Review, David Finkle
Hamlet press:
“The color palette for the show is a chilly but extremely elegant Nordic mix of black, gray, a touch of royal sparkle and much fur (applause for David Hyman’s costumes).”
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun Times
“Gorgeously designed…. David Hyman’s lush costumes have a visual wit all their own.”
Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago
“David Hyman’s costumes have a contemporary frame of reference but make some potent excursions to the past.”
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
“David Hyman’s costume designs range from the historical to the contemporary without ever looking out of place or anachronistic.”
Dan Zeff, Stage and Cinema
“The gripping sense of immediacy and potency owes everything to the combination of Collette Pollard’s remarkably spacious rock-and-brick set design, Sarah Hughey’s eloquent lighting, Mikhail Fiksel’s evocative sound scheme and David Hyman’s suggestively antique costumes.”
Lawrence B. Johnson, Chicago on the Aisle
RENT press:
“Cromer’s staging honors and sets off each individual in a way I’ve never seen before with this piece, thanks in no small part to the costumes of David Hyman.”
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
“…very real looking sets (by Collette Pollard) and costumes (by David Hyman) create a kind of emotional milieu where despair and the need to connect physically alternate from number to number, eventually adding up to something bittersweet, and true.”
Hilton Als, New Yorker
“David Hyman’s costumes were superb. I LOVED the dirty, ripped, but appropriately ragged costumes for the main characters. Angel’s “holiday outfit” was an appropriate homage to the original costume, but with a more real, gritty feel.”
Lazlo Collins, Chicago Theatre Review
“It should be said that David Hyman’s costumes are the most instantly refreshing aspect of this reimagining…. You know you’re in for a new kind of treat when Alan Schmuckler’s wonderfully schlubby Mark shuffles onstage sans the character’s trademark scarf, sweater, and dippy hairdo. He’s so splendidly gross-looking.”
Off-Broadway In Chicago
“Each of David Hyman’s costume pieces are tattered and timely, the garb of starving bohemians and the homeless as opposed to clean-cut cartoons”
Scotty Zacher, Chicago Theater Beat
Orange, Hat & Grace press:
“Both Ms. Haberle, who looks as if she stepped right out of an Edward Weston photograph, and Mr. Maher, aptly wild-eyed and seedy-looking, are admirably committed to the material.”
Christopher Isherwood, New York Times
“David Hyman’s costumes—a long blue dress and then a white shift for Orange, frayed workclothes for Hat, a dirty shift for Grace—suggest the distant time and the characters’ decay.”
Heather J. Violanti, NYTheatre.com
“…excellent set, cast, comic moments and costumes—call it ‘Dust Bowl chic’”
Benjamin Sutton, the L Magazine
punkplay press:
“The other important supporting factor here is impeccable design. We’re normally put-off by multiple costume changes that aren’t strictly necessary, but David Hyman’s work supports the story without being intrusive.”
Julienne Bilker, The Chicagoist
“…transformation of Mickey’s bedroom is both ingenious and in keeping with the boys’ new fondness for tearing down the status quo; David Hyman’s killer costumes are equally inventive.”
Kris Vire, TimeOut Chicago
“This Pavement Group show… [is] the most fully realized and enjoyable.
Tony Adler, Chicago Reader
David Perez’s high-energy production has wit enough to match Moss’s script.”
“…they’re typical teenage guys (except for being on rollerskates). What’s not typical is how creatively Pavement Group manages to re-imagine this story in their production, forging a fresh look at the ways we join social movements to hide from ourselves.
Monica Westin, Newcity Stage
Acting is controlled, perfectly paced, and full of hormonal energy; and this edge extends to savvy technical theater.”
Medea with Child press:
“So much meticulous attention has been given to every detail in performance and design each moment brings new discoveries and revelations. …David Hyman’s construction of Media’s costume alone deserves an award and Wright certainly wears it well. She may be a killer, but girl knows how to bring the Hoodoo Mama chic!”
Paige Listerud, Chicago Theatre Blog
“[Media] wears a towering black headdress, a gown of jagged lace, a belt of what looks like scalps or horsetails, and has an obscene baby-bundle strapped to her chest like a tumor.
C.S.E. Cooney, CenterStage Chicago
There is tension, cohesiveness and stillness…. here is precision, the promised doom, and four beautiful death-effects in perfect succession…. it is bold, ambitious work, unafraid of making messes, and often spectacular – totally worth the effort.”