The Humans
We went to see the Humans last night at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Fantastic performances from the entire cast.
The play takes place in a duplex basement apartment in Chinatown where a family comes together for Thanksgiving. The annual gathering showered with love and connection that slowly begins to show the human side of every character on the stage. A grandmother who is in the throes of dementia who the parents are caring for is obviously taking its toll. The middle class parents who are having a hard time making ends meet and have driven up from Scranton for this meal. The daughter who is rebounding after a break-up and having health problems. The other daughter who is having a hard time entering the musical career that she has been working for her entire life and the new boyfriend who comes from a completely different world than this family but has his own set of issues.
Besides all these issues there is a strong connection between all of them. They are family. The bonds are strong. The familiar jabs are entertaining but cringeworthy. The banter is constant yet they all feel as if they are living on the edge. It is an American family living their lives while trying to survive carrying all of their own baggage.
This play will stick with me for awhile. The play starts out light and gets more intense as the 90 minutes progress. Life is complicated and most of the time everyone is putting up facades. This play shows the real Humans of the world. Absolutely worth going to see.
Comments (Archived):
The playwright, Stephen Karam, grew up in Scranton went to high school with my brother, his father was our principal, his sister was in my class…good people. Fantastic to see Stephen achieve success in the theater in New York! I’ll definitely check out this play when I’m back on the east coast.
good for him. definitely see it!
Were they ethnic in any way? I remember loving the stories I heard of Thanksgiving from friends that were Italian, Jewish, Indian, Mexican and other “tribes”. Since I was clearly a WASP, it was different than mine. Loved to hear their twist on food for Thanksgiving.
Irish to the core
Ha. Then there has to be a drunk uncle. ; )