Wrongo and Ms. Oh So Right saw “The Humans” on Broadway last night.
We tell an old joke at the Mansion of Wrong whenever two family members (mostly in families we haven’t met) are reported to have had a terrible fight, we say “that’s gonna make Thanksgiving dinner awkward.”
And “The Humans” has a few of those awkward moments to go along with lots of laughs. On the surface, the setting for The Humans is the NYC of today: A young woman and her boyfriend have moved into a basement apartment in New York’s Chinatown and have invited her family in from Scranton, PA for Thanksgiving dinner.
And in the play, as in life, Thanksgiving dinner shows us how things have changed since we were last all together. The elderly are forgetful. The millennials have a shaky foot on the ladder of success. Jobs may have been lost. Health issues have intervened. Marriages may have lost their footing. The things that keep us up awake at night are more intense.
These all could be people we know, a family with strong bonds, sub-rosa resentments, and the kind of troubles we see in today’s American middle class: Fear caused by failure to launch a career, loss of jobs, loss of relationships or health, and the ever-popular money troubles.
“The Humans” is a one-act 90-minute play, wherein a young(ish) woman, a struggling artist trying to get her act together, has invited her working-class family from Scranton, PA, to the worn and tired new apartment she shares with the trust-fund guy she dates. Her mom, dad, sister and grandma all show up in a snowstorm. None of them are comfortable in the city apartment, a basement duplex of strange thumps on the ceiling, unreliable light bulbs, and little natural light.
But, they are mostly uncomfortable with changes in their lives that they have tried to keep from the others in the family.
If you’ve ever hosted Thanksgiving for parents (or in-laws) in your first apartment with your paper plates and Costco appetizers, or if you have turned up at your 20-something’s abode as a reluctant guest, suddenly feeling like your parental responsibilities are in the rear-view mirror for good, you’ll immediately bond with “The Humans.”
It’s a snapshot of the way many of us live today: Paycheck to paycheck, student debt, fear of aging, uncertainty about tomorrow, and the realization that all we really have is each other.
See it if you can. It closes on July 24, 2016.
Good summary. “The Humans” is sometimes heavy and difficult, but ultimately positive and reassuring. It is wonderfully written and very well acted….what counts for those who value good theater. I echo Wrongo’s commendation.