• Restaurants + Bars
  • Entertainment
  • Arts
  • Society
  • City Life
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • Real Estate
  • Home + Design
  • Innovation
  • Travel
  • City Guide
  • Events
  • Charity Guide
  • Subscribe
  • Cities
  • Austin
  • Dallas
  • Houston
  • San Antonio
  • Fort Worth
Cities
  • Austin
  • Dallas
  • Houston
  • San Antonio
  • Fort Worth
culturemap logo
  • Restaurants + Bars

    THE LATEST

    Teresa Gubbins: Fresh new restaurant Atiìpico from Mexico makes U.S. debut in Dallas
    Mex-Mex News
    Fresh new restaurant Atiìpico from Mexico makes U.S. debut in Dallas
    By Teresa Gubbins
    Stephanie Allmon Merry: Dallas' best restaurant, chef, and more winners crowned at 2022 Tastemaker Awards
    Tastemaker Awards
    Dallas' best restaurant and top chef crowned at 2022 Tastemaker Awards
    By Stephanie Allmon Merry
    Teresa Gubbins: Buzzy restaurant The Beehive to open in cool downtown Dallas building
    Downtown News
    Buzzy restaurant The Beehive to open in cool downtown Dallas building
    By Teresa Gubbins

    SPONSORED BY

  • Entertainment

    THE LATEST

    Stephanie Allmon Merry: Death of Texas country music legend leads this week's 5 most-read Dallas stories
    This Week's Hot Headlines
    Death of country music legend leads week's 5 most-read Dallas stories
    By Stephanie Allmon Merry
    Alex Bentley: Dallas' summer movie season makes a big return with these 15 must-see films
    Summer movie preview
    Dallas summer movie season makes a big return with 15 must-see films
    By Alex Bentley
    Steven Devadanam: Hip-hop's lyrical genius Kendrick Lamar takes big step to Dallas on new tour
    damn, he's good
    Hip-hop's lyrical genius Kendrick Lamar steps to Dallas on new tour
    By Steven Devadanam

    SPONSORED BY

  • Arts

    THE LATEST

    Chantal Rice: Wildly popular immersive arts venture Meow Wolf to open new 'portal' in Dallas-Fort Worth
    Imagination station
    Wildly popular immersive arts venture Meow Wolf to open new DFW portal
    By Chantal Rice
    Lindsey Wilson: Curtain up on Irving theater company's 2022-23 season of big names
    Season Announcement
    Curtain up on Irving theater company's 2022-23 season of big names
    By Lindsey Wilson
    Alex Bentley: Monet and Impressionists to envelop art lovers in new Dallas immersive exhibition
    Walk in the Water Lilies
    Monet & Impressionists envelop art lovers in Dallas immersive exhibit
    By Alex Bentley

    SPONSORED BY

  • Society

    THE LATEST

    Stephanie Allmon Merry: Dallas culinary superstars and food fans toast the 2022 Tastemaker Awards
    Tastemaker Awards
    Dallas culinary superstars and food fans toast 2022 Tastemaker Awards
    By Stephanie Allmon Merry
    Stephanie Allmon Merry: Dallas-Fort Worth gala-goers don their boots to help grant last wishes for moms
    boots and blessings
    DFW gala-goers don their boots to help grant last wishes for moms
    By Stephanie Allmon Merry
    Stephanie Allmon Merry: Dallas cancer-support nonprofit paints the town red at 20th anniversary gala
    Red Tie Gala
    Dallas cancer-support charity paints town red at 20th anniversary gala
    By Stephanie Allmon Merry

    SPONSORED BY

  • City Guide

    THE LATEST

    : Monica's Mex-Tex Cantina (Closed)
    Bars
    Monica's Mex-Tex Cantina (Closed)
    : Perry's Steakhouse
    Restaurants
    Perry's Steakhouse
    : Dream Cafe
    Restaurants
    Dream Cafe

    SPONSORED BY

  • Events

    THE LATEST

    : Leukemia & Lymphoma Society presents St. Valentine's Day Luncheon and Fashion Show
    5.16.22 | 10:00 am
    Leukemia & Lymphoma Society presents St. Valentine's Day Luncheon and Fashion Show
    : Immersive Van Gogh
    5.19.22 | 1:00 pm
    Immersive Van Gogh
    : Rainbow Vomit
    5.19.22 | 1:00 pm
    Rainbow Vomit

    SPONSORED BY

  • Subscribe
  • City Life

    THE LATEST

    Teresa Gubbins: KERA angles for city-owned classical music station and more Dallas news
    City News Roundup
    KERA angles for city's classical music station and more Dallas news
    By Teresa Gubbins
    Teresa Gubbins: Dallas City Council unanimously passes Humane Pet Store Ordinance
    Animal News
    Dallas City Council unanimously passes Humane Pet Store Ordinance
    By Teresa Gubbins
    John Egan: This Dallas neighbor fetches No. 1 ranking on new list of best parks in Texas
    Not just playing around
    Dallas neighbor fetches No. 1 ranking on new list of best Texas parks
    By John Egan

    SPONSORED BY

  • Fashion + Beauty

    THE LATEST

    Stephanie Allmon Merry: Where to shop in Dallas right now: 11 must-hit stores for Mother's Day and beyond in May
    Where to Shop now
    Where to shop in Dallas: 11 stores for Mother's Day and beyond in May
    By Stephanie Allmon Merry
    Teresa Gubbins: Galleria Dallas welcomes 6 new stores, one dedicated to artsy socks
    Shopping News
    Galleria Dallas welcomes 6 new stores, one dedicated to artsy socks
    By Teresa Gubbins
    Teresa Gubbins: Macy's debuts a special free-standing Backstage store in Grapevine
    Shopping News
    Macy's debuts a special free-standing Backstage store in Grapevine
    By Teresa Gubbins

    SPONSORED BY

  • Real Estate

    THE LATEST

    Teresa Gubbins: New luxury apartment project for baseball nuts to open in Arlington
    Baseball News
    New luxury apartment project for baseball nuts to open in Arlington
    By Teresa Gubbins
    John Egan: This $45 million lakeside mansion makes a splash as the most expensive home for sale in Texas
    Livin’ large
    $45M lakeside mansion makes a splash as Texas' priciest home for sale
    By John Egan
    John Egan: This is how much Dallas mortgage payments spiked last year, Zillow says
    Housing pain
    This is how much Dallas mortgages spiked last year, Zillow says
    By John Egan

    SPONSORED BY

  • Home + Design

    THE LATEST

    Teresa Gubbins: Curiosities antique shop leaves Lakewood for greener East Dallas pastures
    Shopping News
    Curiosities antique shop leaves Lakewood for greener East Dallas spot
    By Teresa Gubbins
    Teresa Gubbins: Dallas' Design District loses a little quirky with shutter of veteran shop
    Shopping News
    Dallas Design District loses a little quirky with veteran shop shutter
    By Teresa Gubbins
    Teresa Gubbins: HGTV's popular No Demo Reno seeks North Dallas homeowners ready for a re-do
    HGTV News
    HGTV's popular No Demo Reno seeks N. Dallas homeowners ready for re-do
    By Teresa Gubbins

    SPONSORED BY

  • Innovation

    THE LATEST

    John Egan: This Dallas suburb is one of Texas' top small cities to start a business, report says
    Best for business
    Dallas suburb is one of Texas' top small cities to start a business
    By John Egan
    Stephanie Allmon Merry: Dallas-based JSX hop-on jets will beam up to SpaceX's Starlink for free inflight Wi-Fi
    Surfing in the stars
    Dallas-based JSX jets beam up to SpaceX's Starlink for inflight Wi-Fi
    By Stephanie Allmon Merry
    Hannah J. Phillips: H-E-B's new brand of green products will benefit Texas Parks & Wildlife
    H-E-Being Green
    New H-E-B brand of green products will benefit Texas Parks & Wildlife
    By Hannah J. Phillips

    SPONSORED BY

  • Travel

    THE LATEST

    Teresa Gubbins: Dallas-based Southwest Airlines unrolls big suite of service upgrades
    Airplane News
    Dallas-based Southwest Airlines unrolls big suite of service upgrades
    By Teresa Gubbins
    Hannah J. Phillips: Ancient Roman treasure found at Goodwill now on display at Texas museum
    Rome or bust
    Ancient Roman treasure found at Goodwill now displayed at Texas museum
    By Hannah J. Phillips
    Hannah J. Phillips: ACL Fest 2022 lineup includes The Chicks, Kacey Musgraves, and more Texas favorites
    ACL News
    ACL Fest includes The Chicks, Kacey Musgraves + more Texas favorites
    By Hannah J. Phillips

    SPONSORED BY

  • Charity Guide
  • Tastemaker Awards
ATTPAC Behind the Curtain
Promoted articles are produced by CultureMap sponsors and not by the editorial staff.
Home » Arts
Theater Critic Picks
The 9 can't-miss shows in Dallas-Fort Worth theater for May
Theater Review
DTC takes a closer look at Texas in The Trials of Sam Houston
LATEST NEWS
These are the 8 best food and drink events in Dallas this week
Family Drama

A quick convo with The Humans playwright Stephen Karam

A quick convo with The Humans playwright Stephen Karam

By CultureMap Create
May 1, 2018, 12:29 pm
Enlarge
Slideshow
The Humans
The company of Stephen Karam's The Humans. Photo by Julieta Cervantes
Playwright Stephen Karam
Playwright Stephen Karam. Courtesy photo
The Humans
Daisy Eagan and Therese Plaehn. Photo by Julieta Cervantes
The Humans
The Humans plays the Winspear Opera House May 8-20. Photo by Julieta Cervantes
The Humans
Playwright Stephen Karam
The Humans
The Humans

Dysfunctional family dramas might be familiar territory for theatergoers, but Stephen Karam's play The Humans redefined the genre when it debuted Off-Broadway in 2015.

The darkly funny story transferred to Broadway in 2016, then moved to an even bigger Broadway theater six months later — highly unusual, and a testament to the production's wide appeal. It went on to win the 2016 Tony Award for best play and was nominated for that year's Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Karam's uproarious, hopeful, and heartbreaking play takes place during Thanksgiving dinner in a ramshackle pre-war duplex in lower Manhattan (David Zinn's Tony-winning set design remains intact for the tour). Millennial artist Brigid Blake has just moved with her boyfriend, Richard, and Brigid's family — father Erik, mother Deirdre, sister Aimee, and grandmother Momo — have driven in from Pennsylvania to celebrate. As darkness falls outside and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the Blake clan's deepest fears and greatest follies are laid bare.

Seattle Rep's literary director, Kristin Leahey, sat down with Karam to discuss his inspiration for the play and what he's most looking forward to with its tour.

Kristin Leahey: What was your impulse behind writing The Humans?

Stephen Karam: I was thinking a lot about the things that were keeping me up at night and that got me thinking about existential human fears: poverty, sickness, losing the love of someone… Was there a way to actually tell a story that might elicit some of those fears — or provide some thrills — while also talking about how human beings cope with them? And by the time I was done, I had written a family play or, as I think of it now, a family thriller.

KL: After working on the 2014 premiere in Chicago and now with the national tour, what are you looking forward to with this new journey for The Humans?

SK: You can probably tell from the play that I'm from Pennsylvania. Any time I do a new play, I'm actually thinking, "Will it ever find its way across the country?" "Will it ever find its way to Pennsylvania or Arizona or Washington State?" My first attendance at a professional theater was seeing touring shows that made their way to the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple. I ushered at the Masonic in high school to get free tickets. They were large musicals but never "straight plays."

There's a special magic in taking a play, a piece like this, across the country. I just feel [that it] really connects to what it meant for me to see theater growing up, so I'm excited to see something that I wrote have a chance to travel.

KL: I really admire that your work, such as Speech & Debate, Sons of the Prophet, and The Humans, grapples with immense sociopolitical ideas, but at its core are these tangible, intimate relationships between characters. How do you strike this balance?

SK: Instead of running away from the larger questions we're struggling with, I realized that my plays can come from them. With The Humans, I originally thought the way to address the play's big ideas was a lot noisier, with a lot more bells and whistles, but through the writing process of stripping things away, by the end, I was staring at six damaged and lovely souls, who audiences would watch be hurt and laugh and cry and love. Things become universal, and thus reverberate more precisely. It's sort of the epic via the intimate.

KL: It's interesting considering that sometimes the most intimate of subjects can also be the most political.

SK: I didn't start The Humans by saying, "I'm going to write about the dying middle class." I think that's a losing game, only because you can't make people watch a play like that — at least I don't think so — unless there are complex, multidimensional people at the center of the conflict. That's where audiences invest, when they actually care about the struggle of the people onstage. If I get too bogged down in ideas, I don't tend to write so well.

I feel like my plays become more political by focusing on human behavior. As a playwright, you can't write about what it means to be alive and not be political. And if you're writing about what it means to be alive today, you're going to end up writing a political play. I never would have predicted or imagined that Donald Trump would have become president. Nor would I have ever suspected that somebody with his particular background, trust fund, and golden toilets would be the person who ends up connecting to the Erik Blakes of the world.

I should also note that the play is a comedy. I'm somebody who loves laughing when I'm seeing any play myself. But you can't just tell people a play is funny; you have to let them decide that for themselves. But of course, watching any family interact for 90 minutes is going to be partially, if not largely, hilarious.

---

A version of this interview was originally published by Kristin Leahey, PhD, literary director for Seattle Rep. Original transcription by Annika Bennett.

Read These Next
Georgia Stitt
New Dallas theater co. amplifies forgotten voices in inaugural season
Jordan Spieth at AT&T Byron Nelson Golf Tournament
These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend
AAPI chefs
Central Market celebrates AAPI and Pride months with cooking classes
Georgia Stitt
New Dallas theater co. amplifies forgotten voices in inaugural season
Jordan Spieth at AT&T Byron Nelson Golf Tournament
These are the 13 best things to do in Dallas this weekend
AAPI chefs
Central Market celebrates AAPI and Pride months with cooking classes
Related Events
5.18.22
AT&T Performing Arts Center presents Hasan Minhaj: In Conversation
5.19.22
Black Violin in concert
5.20.22
AT&T Performing Arts Center presents An Evening with Neil Gaiman
Related City Guide Listings
  • Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House
  • Latest News
  • Most Popular
  • New Dallas theater co. amplifies forgotten voices in inaugural season
  • These are the 8 best food and drink events in Dallas this week
  • New Champagne bar will open in Plano with bubbles and morning coffee
  • Affluent Dallas suburb makes bank as richest Texas county, report says
  • AT&T Discovery District gives a shakeup to downtown Dallas food hall
See All Latest News >
  • Affluent Dallas suburb makes bank as richest Texas county, report says
  • Death of country music legend leads week's 5 most-read Dallas stories
  • New Omni PGA Frisco Resort aims to be biggest golf destination ever
  • Fresh new restaurant Atiìpico from Mexico makes U.S. debut in Dallas
  • Dallas' best restaurant and top chef crowned at 2022 Tastemaker Awards
Vote Now
Dallas Tastemaker Awards 2022
5/13
Dallas culinary superstars and food fans toast 2022 Tastemaker Awards
5/12
Dallas' best restaurant and top chef crowned at 2022 Tastemaker Awards
5/9
The top 10 chefs in Dallas for 2022 give the city some culinary wow
Where to Eat
5/5
Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 hottest new restaurants for May
4/20
Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 hottest new restaurant openings
3/23
Where to eat in Dallas right now: 10 Asian restaurant finds for March
Home | About Us | News Tips & Suggestions | Submit An Event | Submit A Charity | Advertise | Media Sponsorship | Jobs | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy
© 2022 CultureMap LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Be A CultureMap Insider
Get Our Emails
Sign Up

We will not share or sell your email address

Newsletters for exploring your city

Thank you for signing up Please verify your e-mail by following the link we just sent you.
Look for an e-mail from CultureMap <info@culturemap.com>