Blue Surge premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago on July 9, 2001. Chris Jones, referring to this production and writing for Variety, calls Gilman's play “a racy, smart piece of gritty social realism that's alternately funny and politically provocative.” Although Jones finds moments in the play that seem to be forced, a plot that appears at times to be contrived, and some language that might be “more suited to cable television” than to a small theater, he also says that “Gilman's writing is heartfelt and the narrative crackles along with plenty of surprises.” Jones concludes his review by calling Gilman's work “a lively, flashy, gripping and typically smart piece of theater.”

Joel Henning, a critic for the Wall Street Journal, also writes a mixed review for Gilman's play. There are moments that Henning finds exceedingly well done and others that he considers boring. At one end, Henning...