Pulitzer Prize finalist and a superb playwright, Stephen Karam has returned to the Roundabout Theatre Company with a new play. An Off-Broadway production, The Humans is a 90-minute play written as a single scene that revolves around The Blakes, a middle class family. Premiering in 2014, the production raised its curtains at Chicago’s American Theater Company and received great reviews. It was lauded for its bursts of hilarity and controlled sense of anxiety experienced during a Thanksgiving dinner. Directed by Wicked and An Act of God fame Tony Award winner Joe Mantello, the play stars Jayne Houdyshell and Reed Birney. The Humans started a successful run at the Laura Pels Theater in October 2015 and will take a final bow on December 27, 2015. Don’t miss the “blisteringly funny and altogether funny” production; buy The Humans tickets right away.

The Humans – A High Profile Production By The Roundabout Theatre Company

Theatre plays are mostly successful if they are great in one of the two ways – a perfect display of existing ideas or groundbreaking display of new things entirely. Stephen Karam’s The Humans is the example of the former, a theatrical tradition based on a family during the holiday season. Given the familiarity of the genre, the play manages to stand out and is a gripping effort. The dark comedy looks at family dynamics and under the direction of Joe Mantello, raises its curtains on a dollhouse-style presentation, set in atypical basement duplex in lower Manhattan. The Blakes usually spend Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania but this time they all head to Manhattan to celebrate it at their daughter’s place. The growing unease during the dinner and the anxiety shows that all is not well for the family and each member is unsuccessfully trying not to share their worries. In a loving and caring way they are all driving each other crazy.

The comedy drama features a stellar cast starring Reed Birney and Jayne Houdyshell as the parents Erik and Deirdre. Sarah Steele plays the role of Brigid Blake, a struggling musician and Arian Moayed stars as Richard, her boyfriend. Cassie Beck steps into the shoes of the elder sister Aimee, a lawyer who got knocked out of the partnership race in her firm. Completing the family is Erik’s mother Momo played by Lauren Klein.

The Humans Presents Authenticity – A Play Drawn From Personal Experiences

A one-act, 90 minutes production, The Humans brings to stage “I’ve-been-there” authenticity. Trying to get her act together, Brigid invites her parents to her new apartment that she’s sharing with her boyfriend Richard. Finishing up master’s degree in social work, Richard comes from a wealthy family and while he and Brigid don’t talk about the class difference much, it comes to surface when her financially struggling family shows up. The Blakes seem to be under pressure on all fronts – economically, romantically, medically and culturally. But they all try to keep their worries hidden for the sake of others. The parents have discomfiting news of their own, whereas Aimee is embarrassed to share that she not only lost the partnership but was also dumped by her girlfriend, and she has some serious illness. Momo has been suffering from Alzheimer for the past four years and she gives her family a momentarily joy when she becomes lucid for few minutes.

The thing that sets The Humans apart from other plays of the same style is that Stephen Karam doesn’t turn the whole event into an ugly affair. Even when each member’s worries come out, the love that the family has for one and other capitulates it to a beautiful presentation. As the Blakes stick together, it rekindles the audience’s holiday spirit. There is no better reason to buy The Humans tickets and go to the theatre.