Off-Broadway Review The Humans

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Some Thanksgivings, You Shouldn't Go Home Again
By Lauren Yarger
You can't go home again. And sometimes that might be a good thing.
Stephen Karam's play The Humans, getting an extended Off-Broadway run by Roundabout Theatre Company makes that clear -- at least to the perfect home we may have created in the back of our minds -- and intelligently raises a number of issues we all struggle with when it comes to family: midlife crisis, fears, breaking away, betrayal, illness and forgiveness -- all things human. And just in time for the holidays.

It's Thanksgiving and the Blakes are breaking with tradition this year. Erik (Reed Birney) and Deirdre (Jaye Houdyshell) are not hosting dinner in their Scranton home. Instead, they have driven to Chinatown, NY to celebrate at the new place with a lot of potential where their daughter,  Brigid (Sarah Steele) and her boyfriend, Richard Saad (Arian Moayed) have just moved. (The pre-war duplex in need of work is designed by David Zinn).

Joining them are Brigid's down-on-her-luck sister, Aimee (Cassie Beck), who is still emotional after a breakup with her long time girlfriend. She also just found out she isn't going to make partner at her law firm, in part due to having to take a lot of sick days because of a flare up of her colitis.

Completing the family portrait is "Momo (Lauren Klein), the girls' Alzheimer-ridden grandmother who doesn't always remember them. She rambles incoherent sentences and has become the full-time project of Deirde. She appears to take care of her mother-in-law with joy, but feeling needed may be her real motiviation.

On the surface, the family seems loving and supportive as they join in traditional Irish songs. But beneath the facade, annoyances brew. Erik is haunted by something and seems particularly agitated by the noise that can be heard from an apartment upstairs. Festering resentment works its way into the conversation to spotlight just how difficult family relations can be.

Joe Mantello directs deep and moving performances, particularly from the always excellent Birney and Houdyshell.  There isn't necessarily a defined plot to Karam's play, and it does leave a lot of questions unanswered. It is more like a guided eavesdropping into the lives of the people and is absorbing throughout.

The Humans is part of Roundabout’s New Play Initiative, a collection of programs, designed to foster and produce new work by emerging and established artists. The Humans is the second play commissioned by Roundabout fromKaram (Speech and Debate and Sons of the Prophet.

The Humans plays through Jan. 3 at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre,  111 West 46th St., NYC. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday evening at 7:30 with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday
matinees at 2 pm. Tickets are $79: 212-719-1300; roundabouttheatre.org.

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