“Stories sung, wonders performed. Beautifully rendered…intricate and intriguing, this understated show enthralled. The depth of tradition was palpable. Part opera, part folk concert, part performance art, this show kept us watching, kept us believing. Folk music's power to cross national and linguistic borders is well known, and the universality of this music and its setting was wonderful. While sung in English the connectedness with an international aspect of the traveler meant that the tradition was upheld by this piece. As with the best of contemporary performance, this work worked from its tradition, while finding new articulations and ideas within it.”

“Cafe Antarsia is not the stuff of folklore, and not the stuff that makes sense in the moment.. But this is the real thing, where tradition meets up with different generations and different bloodlines to make sounds that speak to the river we go to when we dream. Ruth Margraff is one of the angels that landed on a bridge in New York City and decided to stay incarnated. It’s a song sung to heartbroken people everywhere, the ones who are still up at this time of night, wanting to count more than grief on the first knuckle. There’s magic in the air.”

“Two Dark But Gripping Performers...Audaciously original…the new Bob Dylan...[Margraff's] plays produce a wallop of text and image and sound that resonates with the viewer long after the performance...Brisco's music is as tough and gnarly as it is tender and mournful, mixing the intimate and the epic with strains of folk, blues and a bit of rock wafting through. It's an incantation of sorts -- a promise and a reminder that the only way worth doing anything is to do it all the way. ”

“Greek Guitars and Turkish Twirls Embellish a Mystical Libretto...From the enchanting lilt of librettist Ruth Margraff’s voice… the gorgeously poetic dialogue with which Margraff has endowed her libretto, the intoxicating Balkan rhythms composer Nikos Brisco has laced through his score for a feisty gypsy band, and the historic subject matter complete with warring factions, bloodthirsty brothers, and dangerous seduction, it seems that…the duo may have a little masterpiece on their hands.”

“Poetic and imaginative…Backed by [Café Antarsia Ensemble] the tragic tale is brought to life in a strikingly vivid and compelling way.”

“Brilliantly performed...layer after layer of richly textured emotion...imminent danger...with precision of cadence and inflection.”

“The fascinating rhythms of Crete are sung and danced in THREE GRACES…jam-packed with action….wonderful music and a thoroughly Greek dramatic structure…creating the inner states of desire and revolt.”

“Ruth Margraff is shaping the future of American theatre…a warrior riding the vanguard of New Wave opera...She travels everywhere, like an electrifying idea ”

“Ruth Margraff is a playwright with a singular voice, an artist whose work pushes boundaries linguistically and theatrically, challenging any expectations we might bring with us to the theater.”

“A series of ballads with ornate lyrical intensity…thickly textured imagery and wordplay… enough frissons for a full novel written in verse…potently hewn piece of rural American mythology.”

“An album length play... hypnotic...brutal...a baptism of fire.”

“Tightly-rendered performances. Principal singers Nikos Brisco and Ruth Margraff both have attractive voices… Striking in its immediacy are songs which mix exotic, evocative lyrics (in English) with vigorous strummed guitars, undulating rhythmic grooves, and catchy vocal choruses. Café Antarsia Ensemble is a tight unit with compelling material of wide-ranging appeal.”