BETHANY at The Gift Theatre Company
*Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination -- Best Principal Actress*
*Time Out Chicago Theatre Award -- Best Actress*
“An exceptional lead performance by Clemens, a performer who has been working constantly…but who here has been handed the kind of role that an actress of her quality always hopes to land. It is a wonderful, unpretentious piece of acting… For sure, the superb Clemens is doing the best work of her Chicago career.”
-- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
“Clemens gives a fascinatingly fine-tuned performance as a woman frayed at the edges...”
-- Kris Vire, Time Out
“The brilliant Hillary Clemens…is just fantastic, with such empathetic and un-precious clarity.”
-- Alex Hunstberger, NewCity
“Watching Clemens as Crystal thinking on the spot to negotiate her way out of so many falsehoods and perilous situations is an acting marvel.”
-- Scott C. Morgan, Windy City Times
A DOLL’S HOUSE at Kansas City Actors Theatre
“Hillary Clemens gives arguably the finest performance I've seen in Kansas City, maybe ever... She is incredible, and I cannot overstate that.”
-- Tim Scott, KCTV
“Hillary Clemens doesn’t let herself get seduced by tradition or reverence. Her Nora feels silly, sarcastic, fresh, human. Her performance made lines I’ve read a dozen times feel surprising and strange.”
-- Liz Cook, Pitch Weekly
“Clemens as Nora commands our attention... It’s quite a balancing act. And I detected no false moments.”
-- Robert Trussell, KC Studio
“Hillary Clemens remains on-stage nearly the entire time and dominates each scene with her mastery and deliverance of the part. She goes from child to adult, from gay to frantic, from giddy to turbulent, from weak to strong as the play unfolds. Her character development is superb and powerful.”
-- Bob Evans, KC Applauds
HAMLET at the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival
“Ophelia...all too often is played as a simpering victim. Hillary Clemens is having none of that. Her Ophelia is a fully-rounded young woman, full of energy and playfulness, [which] makes her eventual descent into madness and suicide all the more devastating.”
-- Robert Butler, Kansas City Star
“Hillary Clemens, as Ophelia, commands attention with a vivid performance that is specific and deeply felt... Clemens negotiates her transformation with great clarity.”
-- Robert Trussell, KC Studio
THE GREAT GATSBY at Indiana Repertory Theatre
“...Daisy Buchanan, played with brittle, electrifying allure by Hillary Clemens.”
-- Jay Harvey, Upstage
“Hillary Clemens is remarkably adept in her rendition of the love-torn Daisy Buchanan. She presents a frail and self-absorbed young woman, who is wonderfully obverse to her husband...”
-- Ken Klingenmeier, A Seat on the Aisle
OTHELLO at Seattle Shakespeare Company
“Clemens packs unexpected complexity into Desdemona's maturation from lucky girl into the stoic partner in an abusive marriage. (Her multivalent 'I am a child to chiding' slayed me.)”
-- Margaret Friedman, Seattle Weekly
“Hillary Clemens is a playful, girlish Desdemona…but as her husband cracks apart, their roles flip: her artless innocence and innate grace make her the more mature of the pair. And when, on the 'evidence' of a misplaced handkerchief and a misreported conversation she is convicted without a trial, this Desdemona doesn't go down without a fight."
-- Misha Berson, Seattle Times
PICNIC at Writers’ Theatre
*Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination -- Best Supporting Actress*
“...I want to single out for special attention...Hillary Clemens, who is wonderfully well cast as Madge’s bright, tomboyish kid sister.”
-- Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal
ONCE IN A LIFETIME at Asolo Repertory Theatre
“Ms. Clemens, who gave a poignant performance as the tomboy in Writers' Theatre's Chicago revival of ‘Picnic,’ plays May as a spunky, cloche-hatted girl-next-door who knows how to snap off a punch line, which is just right.”
-- Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal
“There’s hardly a misstep in the performances, beginning with the vibrant Hillary Clemens as the too-smart May... Clemens plays the sharp-witted May as the one you want to trade jabs with at one of those air kiss-filled parties.”
-- Jay Handelman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
AS YOU LIKE IT at American Players Theatre
“Good leading actresses in their 20s covet a shot at playing Rosalind, and we have seen some fine ones at APT over the years. But Clemens is in a class by herself. Her presence is so natural, her demeanor so calm, we don't detect the tiniest trace of acting.”
-- Damien Jaques, On Milwaukee
“As Rosalind, a bright and lively Clemens steals the show, winning hearts among the characters as well as in the audience. The elderly gentlemen sitting in front of us turned to a friend at intermission and said, ‘I’m in love with Hillary Clemens.’ We’re guessing he was not alone in that sentiment...”
-- Mike Muckian, Brava Magazine
“Rosalind...is Shakespeare's greatest heroine, and playing her requires an actor with a big heart and tremendous range. Enter Hillary Clemens, whose fresh-scrubbed face radiates new-found passion, while also managing to deliver timeless truths with a homespun common sense that matches her worn overalls.”
-- Mike Fischer, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
“‘As You Like It’ is not named after its protagonist, like ‘King Lear’ or ‘Hamlet.’ But like them, it's unusually dependent on one performance: a production won't get far without a wonderful Rosalind. And the production at APT has found one in Hillary Clemens. She's completely lovable and delightful, with an easy command of the language and wonderful chemistry with Matt Schwader's Orlando.”
-- Zev Valancy, On Chicago Theatre
YENTL at Asolo Repertory Theatre
*BEST ACTRESS, Sarasota Magazine*
“...an engaging performance by Hillary Clemens in the title role. She is simultaneously boyish and feminine and conveys the deep passion that causes Yentl to throw aside centuries of Jewish law to better understand it.”
-- Jay Handelman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
“Clemens, who’s also great as May Daniels in Asolo Rep’s ‘Once in a Lifetime,’ shines as the character who has ‘the soul of a man in the body of a woman.’”
-- Wade Tatangello, Bradenton Herald
“Hillary Clemens as Yentl/Anshel creates a warm Shakespearean invitation to the play and proceeds to show off a wide range of delivery throughout the production, from the comedy of trying to be a 17-year-old boy to defiantly becoming a strong woman battling the belief that women shouldn’t be educated.”
-- Sarasota Times
A ROOM WITH A VIEW at Lifeline Theatre Company
“Lucy...is a tough role to play without either stooping to condescension or stomping on her enthusiasm for budding modernity. Somehow, Clemens avoids both of those traps. She creates a remarkably likable character who positively glows with that virginal blush of sensual possibility.”
-- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
SKI DUBAI at Steppenwolf Theatre Company
“The most interesting aspect of this script is its carefully drawn and moving young heroine, played by the terrific Hillary Clemens.”
-- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
SPIDER'S WEB at Kansas City Actors Theatre
“Fortunately, Hillary Clemens...ably carries the huge role on her petite shoulders. Her sparkling, assured performance does much to carry the evening.”
-- Grace Suh, KC Studio