On October 3rd at 7:00 pm I walked to the Armour Street Theatre to see the Davidson Community Players rendition of The Humans by Stephen Karam. I did not expect the 90-minute show that takes place over one Thanksgiving dinner to bring me and other audience members to tears.
Watching The Humans felt more like joining the Blake family for Thanksgiving dinner rather than watching a theatrical performance. There is one set and one act. The stagnant set makes the apartment more realistic. The lack of an intermission helps the audience forget they are watching a show and get lost in the conversations and arguments between the family members. There was no barrier between the audience and the stage. The seats were about one foot away from the front of the stage. The experience felt intimate and personal. I witnessed as audience members were brought to tears by the vulnerable confessions of each character. The simple set and relatable characters made Karam’s message hit close to home.
The Humans centers around the Blake family’s Thanksgiving dinner at a run-down apartment in New York City. Each family member wants to hide the hardships they are experiencing from each other, whether it is illness, heartbreak, poverty, or unemployment. Bridgid, the oldest daughter, works as a bartender, but her passion is acting. She has just moved in with her boyfriend, Rich, who has a history of bad mental health. Her younger sister, Laura, has just ended a long term relationship and struggles with her chronic illness. Their mother, Deirdre, feels overlooked by the family and works to rebuild her marriage. Their father, Erik, deals with the economic and emotional consequences of his affair. Finally, their grandmother shouts without warning, as her condition worsens and she becomes more confused about her whereabouts. Karmam demonstrates the consequences of keeping all of these issues buried, as the tensions grow between family members and the pain each character feels comes to light.
Of all the family members, Erik struggles the most to open up about his fears and mistakes. Throughout the play, his wife, Deirdre, continuously brings up how every night he wakes up in a cold sweat from nightmares. At first, Erik refuses to tell anyone what he is dreaming about and claims he does not remember the nightmare. However, he eventually opens up to Rich about the terrifying dream, describing a girl with no face. Each night the girl disappears down a secret tunnel and he wakes up. Rich asserts that when people dream of a tunnel it means something about themselves is hidden at the end and encourages Erik to go down the tunnel the next time he dreams it.
Tensions among the family grow until Erik finally reveals what he has been holding back. He tells his daughters that he has lost his job because he slept with a teacher at the school where he works. The play ends with Erik alone on stage, with only a flashlight for lighting. The drastic change in lighting forces the audience to adjust their eyes. Eerie sounds echo from outside the apartment. The door opens on its own and reveals a tunnel-like hallway. Erik pauses and looks at the audience before venturing down the tunnel. The entire play builds up to this unforgettable moment. After Erik enters the tunnel, the door slams shut, leaving the audience in shock.
Karam uses the image of a secret dark tunnel to demonstrate the important journey of facing the things you hide. Choosing to enter the tunnel is choosing to wrestle with the worst parts of oneself. Karam uses very generic and relatable characters to prove that everyone has a secret tunnel. It’s something that makes us human. Erik is tortured by his past. Throughout the play is paranoid and distant. It is not until he opens up about his dream and his affair that he begins to find peace. He is finally able to face the darkness. The more he shares the stronger he feels, giving him the strength to enter the tunnel at the end of the play. Sharing his darkest secrets is the first step to overcoming them. The Humans encourages us to be vulnerable with each other, to overcome our greatest fears and heal from the wounds we try to hide. After the show I called my mother, telling her the truth about how much I was missing home.
Bibliography
Karam, Stephen. The Humans. Directed by Glynnis O’Donoghue, Theatre Communications Group, 3 October 2024, Davidson Community Players, Davidson