What the Critics have said...
Big Scary Animals
Rhonda, an initially charming and eventually chilling woman, played by Charlotte Akin. I was entirely convinced that Rhonda was a real person expressing her real thoughts right on stage in front of us; Akin was that compelling. From drunken celebrations of her chicken vest to deeply confused confessions about Ronnie, her son, Rhonda was brought to life by Akin's dedication and skill. These two characters were the life of this performance, harboring "big scary animals" as they move about in society. Some moments were cringy, others were charming, and a very memorable few were harrowing-what all of these moments have in common is the powerful performance of Bob Reed and Charlotte Akin...Emily Short, Broadway World
Charlotte Akin is wonderful as the chicken obsessed Rhonda...Akin makes the witty Rhonda both a peacemaker and a peace disrupter, constantly saying the wrong thing. She is a product of her conservative upbringing and her religion. Akin shows quite the range of acting here, especially in her “melt down” scene near the end of the play. Akin makes Rhonda, who believes a good casserole can cure anything, into a delightful, yet troubling, character...Doug Sturdivant, DFW Center Stage
the cast was dynamic...Charlotte Akin and Bob Reed were delightfully naive...(Chad) Cline and (Charlotte) Akin had showier performances and didn’t disappoint with wisecracks and drunken laughter...Dallas Voice
Finding the Sun
Tautly performed, Finding the Sun is a poetic, outwardly languid depiction of a day at the beach with tension building from clashes among unexpectedly intertwined characters....Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News
Tomas and the Library Lady
Among the many lyrical touches...is the act of casting the same actress (the versatile Charlotte Akin) as both the library lady who helps a boy named Tomás find books that help him learn English and as the teacher who haunts his nightmares by yelling at him to stop speaking Spanish, the only language he hears at home....Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News
Holiday Memories
Charlotte Akin is a beaming and believable Miss Sook, though. She’s a plausible, enthusiastic partner for a little kid as, for instance, they scrounge for spare change to buy ingredients for Christmas fruitcakes. As Miss Sook and Buddy fumble through their nervous little adventures, you get a sense of what an odd couple they must have been — and what outsiders...Nelson Pressley, Washington Post
Fortunately, Sook is in the hands of Charlotte Akin, one of the area’s most reliable actors for playing complicated characters. Akin’s Sook is sufficiently nuanced so that we can see in her both what Buddy sees and what Truman, looking back, now understands.
Tim Treanor, DC Theatre Scene
Charlotte Akin is captivating and endearing as Miss Sook....Chris Williams, MD Theatre Review
The always wondrously distinctive Charlotte Akin plays Miss Sook, the 60-something distant cousin and BFF of young Buddy underpins the production. Full of wisdom and faith, Miss Sook is also a very tricky eccentric, if not the child-like part of Buddy’s growing up with some of their innocent relationship giving off a bit of creepiness – at least from my contemporary eyes. Akin’s Miss Sook commands attention and she takes a more difficult path as she inhabits her Miss Sook as a spiritual being....David Siegel, DCMA
The Oldest Profession
The cast is uniformly excellent in portraying the delicious individuality of each character...Child-like and big-hearted, Vera (Charlotte Akin) is really the soul of the stable. Vera is the most-endearing, as well as the most heart-breaking member of the old team. Akin conveys Vera’s joie de vivre with wide-eyed innocence, even as time ravages the stable and takes away her extended family, one by one. When Akin describes every nuance of a meal Vera has savored or how she feels in the arms of a cherished customer, Vera becomes an open book.
Jeffrey Walker, DC Theatre Scene
All five actors do a bang up job..."The Oldest Profession" allow female actors over 40 the chance to strut their stuff and embody a truly unique characters...Michael Poandl, DC Metro Theatre Arts
King John
Akin lends regal dignity to Queen Felipe (a gender-reversed version of the original script’s King Philip)..
Celia Wren, Washington Post
Queen Felipe of France is played with great insight and discipline by Charlotte Akin...
DCMTA, Catherine Artois
..Charlotte Akin as "Felipe," Queen of France, is a study in firm resolve and well-handled verse…
Andrew White, Broadway World
...Charlotte Akin is convincingly royal...
Tim Treanor, DC Theatre Scene
…Akin is one of authority with searing eyes and pursed lips, ready to pounce.
David Siegel, Showbiz Radio
Gilgamesh
Charlotte Akin, as Gilgamesh's mother Ninsun, projects so much authority that for all she cares the story should really be about her...
Andrew White, Broadway World
Charlotte Akin provides him with wise and elegant counsel, helping him resolve the conflicts he must bear as a man-god.
Terry Ponick, Washington Times
A Clockwork Orange
Every scene is also a little bit more amusing with Charlotte Akin in it.
Doug Rule, MetroWeekly
Dark Play
Platt, Charlotte Akin and Cliff Williams III round out an exemplary cast, which infuses "Dark Play" with all the conviction that a tense cat-and-mouse evening requires.
Peter Mark, The Washington Post
Richard III
Tottering around with a martini glass, Charlotte Akin is delightfully blowsy as the widowed Queen Margaret -- a woman who relishes her bitterness.
Celia Wren, The Washington Post
Valparaiso
Charlotte Akin gives a devilishly absorbing performance as the talk show host, channeling ego and empathy in massive proportions as her broadcast becomes a kind of JudgmentDay.
Nelson Presley, The Washington Post
Death of a Salesman
Charlotte Akin lets you hear the strain behind Linda’s determined cheer, without letting it infect her gaze as she looks with adoration on the man who will inevitably let her down.
Bob Mondello, The Washington Observer
The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow
Miss Akin has the thornier role as the wound-tight Adele, but her love for her child comes shining through.
Jayne Blanchard, The Washington Times
Rhonda, an initially charming and eventually chilling woman, played by Charlotte Akin. I was entirely convinced that Rhonda was a real person expressing her real thoughts right on stage in front of us; Akin was that compelling. From drunken celebrations of her chicken vest to deeply confused confessions about Ronnie, her son, Rhonda was brought to life by Akin's dedication and skill. These two characters were the life of this performance, harboring "big scary animals" as they move about in society. Some moments were cringy, others were charming, and a very memorable few were harrowing-what all of these moments have in common is the powerful performance of Bob Reed and Charlotte Akin...Emily Short, Broadway World
Charlotte Akin is wonderful as the chicken obsessed Rhonda...Akin makes the witty Rhonda both a peacemaker and a peace disrupter, constantly saying the wrong thing. She is a product of her conservative upbringing and her religion. Akin shows quite the range of acting here, especially in her “melt down” scene near the end of the play. Akin makes Rhonda, who believes a good casserole can cure anything, into a delightful, yet troubling, character...Doug Sturdivant, DFW Center Stage
the cast was dynamic...Charlotte Akin and Bob Reed were delightfully naive...(Chad) Cline and (Charlotte) Akin had showier performances and didn’t disappoint with wisecracks and drunken laughter...Dallas Voice
Finding the Sun
Tautly performed, Finding the Sun is a poetic, outwardly languid depiction of a day at the beach with tension building from clashes among unexpectedly intertwined characters....Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News
Tomas and the Library Lady
Among the many lyrical touches...is the act of casting the same actress (the versatile Charlotte Akin) as both the library lady who helps a boy named Tomás find books that help him learn English and as the teacher who haunts his nightmares by yelling at him to stop speaking Spanish, the only language he hears at home....Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News
Holiday Memories
Charlotte Akin is a beaming and believable Miss Sook, though. She’s a plausible, enthusiastic partner for a little kid as, for instance, they scrounge for spare change to buy ingredients for Christmas fruitcakes. As Miss Sook and Buddy fumble through their nervous little adventures, you get a sense of what an odd couple they must have been — and what outsiders...Nelson Pressley, Washington Post
Fortunately, Sook is in the hands of Charlotte Akin, one of the area’s most reliable actors for playing complicated characters. Akin’s Sook is sufficiently nuanced so that we can see in her both what Buddy sees and what Truman, looking back, now understands.
Tim Treanor, DC Theatre Scene
Charlotte Akin is captivating and endearing as Miss Sook....Chris Williams, MD Theatre Review
The always wondrously distinctive Charlotte Akin plays Miss Sook, the 60-something distant cousin and BFF of young Buddy underpins the production. Full of wisdom and faith, Miss Sook is also a very tricky eccentric, if not the child-like part of Buddy’s growing up with some of their innocent relationship giving off a bit of creepiness – at least from my contemporary eyes. Akin’s Miss Sook commands attention and she takes a more difficult path as she inhabits her Miss Sook as a spiritual being....David Siegel, DCMA
The Oldest Profession
The cast is uniformly excellent in portraying the delicious individuality of each character...Child-like and big-hearted, Vera (Charlotte Akin) is really the soul of the stable. Vera is the most-endearing, as well as the most heart-breaking member of the old team. Akin conveys Vera’s joie de vivre with wide-eyed innocence, even as time ravages the stable and takes away her extended family, one by one. When Akin describes every nuance of a meal Vera has savored or how she feels in the arms of a cherished customer, Vera becomes an open book.
Jeffrey Walker, DC Theatre Scene
All five actors do a bang up job..."The Oldest Profession" allow female actors over 40 the chance to strut their stuff and embody a truly unique characters...Michael Poandl, DC Metro Theatre Arts
King John
Akin lends regal dignity to Queen Felipe (a gender-reversed version of the original script’s King Philip)..
Celia Wren, Washington Post
Queen Felipe of France is played with great insight and discipline by Charlotte Akin...
DCMTA, Catherine Artois
..Charlotte Akin as "Felipe," Queen of France, is a study in firm resolve and well-handled verse…
Andrew White, Broadway World
...Charlotte Akin is convincingly royal...
Tim Treanor, DC Theatre Scene
…Akin is one of authority with searing eyes and pursed lips, ready to pounce.
David Siegel, Showbiz Radio
Gilgamesh
Charlotte Akin, as Gilgamesh's mother Ninsun, projects so much authority that for all she cares the story should really be about her...
Andrew White, Broadway World
Charlotte Akin provides him with wise and elegant counsel, helping him resolve the conflicts he must bear as a man-god.
Terry Ponick, Washington Times
A Clockwork Orange
Every scene is also a little bit more amusing with Charlotte Akin in it.
Doug Rule, MetroWeekly
Dark Play
Platt, Charlotte Akin and Cliff Williams III round out an exemplary cast, which infuses "Dark Play" with all the conviction that a tense cat-and-mouse evening requires.
Peter Mark, The Washington Post
Richard III
Tottering around with a martini glass, Charlotte Akin is delightfully blowsy as the widowed Queen Margaret -- a woman who relishes her bitterness.
Celia Wren, The Washington Post
Valparaiso
Charlotte Akin gives a devilishly absorbing performance as the talk show host, channeling ego and empathy in massive proportions as her broadcast becomes a kind of JudgmentDay.
Nelson Presley, The Washington Post
Death of a Salesman
Charlotte Akin lets you hear the strain behind Linda’s determined cheer, without letting it infect her gaze as she looks with adoration on the man who will inevitably let her down.
Bob Mondello, The Washington Observer
The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow
Miss Akin has the thornier role as the wound-tight Adele, but her love for her child comes shining through.
Jayne Blanchard, The Washington Times
