The Humans

By Stephen Karam
Directed by Dámaso Rodríguez

November 19, 2017 – December 17, 2017

Morrison Stage | 95 min. with no intermission

It’s the small dinner party that made big waves on Broadway about a fractured family at its not-so-finest. A bold, bruised, and billowing drama, The Humans layers the fabric of a family's past as they gather at the youngest daughter and her boyfriend's New York Chinatown apartment for a holiday meal. As the Blake family poke at old wounds and forcibly stumble through treasured traditions, tensions bubble over, secrets fight their way to the surface, and the world creaks curiously around them.
“There is so much love, dread, tenderness and brutality in The Humans…deeply-felt family tragicomedy thriller...” - Newsday

  • See the huge Broadway hit up and close and personal right here in Portland!
  • 2016 Tony Award for Best Play
  • 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist

Cast and Production Team

Cast

Robert Pescovitz +

Erik Blake

Luisa Sermol +

Deirdre Blake

Val Landrum +^

Aimee Blake

Quinlan Fitzgerald ±

Brigid Blake

Vana O'Brien +^

Fiona "Momo" Blake

John San Nicolas +^

Richard Saad

Creative

Stephen Karam

Playwright

Dámaso Rodríguez *

Director

Production

Costume Designer: Gregory Pulver ^

Scenic Designer: Megan Wilkerson #^

Lighting Designer: Kristeen Willis #

Dramaturg: Luan Schooler

Props Master: Katrina Lind

Assistant Director: Roy Arauz

Composer/Sound Designer: Phil Johnson

Stage Manager: Carol Ann Wohlmut +^

Scenic Design Intern: Colin Moore

+ Member of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the U.S.

* Member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

# The scenic, costume, lighting, projection & sound designers are represented by United Scenic Artists

± Equity Membership Candidate

^ Artists Rep Resident Artist

Production Media

Video

Photos

Press

"...The Humans powerfully plumbs our daily heartbreaks during one compelling meal with humans that hit very close to home." -Lee Williams, The Oregonian
FULL REVIEW

"...it's the ability to make even the most banal moments so impactful that makes The Humans endlessly fascinating." -Mitchell Miller, Willamette Week
FULL REVIEW

"In the comic drama The Humans at Artists Rep, Thanksgiving dinner with the Blakes just might knock the stuffing out of you…” -Bob Hicks, Oregon ArtsWatch
FULL REVIEW

"[The] cast, some of them veterans of the company and past shows, fit into their roles like hand to glove, quite a perfect ensemble." -Dennis Sparks, Dennis Sparks Reviews
FULL REVIEW

“It's an outstanding play, using a holiday dinner to explore many issues that divide us on a family scale as well as a societal one.” -Krista Garver, Broadway World
FULL REVIEW

“Thanksgiving traditions juxtaposed in tragi-comic and terrifying accuracy with a world they no longer recognize.” -Judy Nedry, Judy Nedry Reviews
FULL REVIEW

 "I suspect you will see someone you know represented by at least one these characters. Their sheer humanity is that striking." -Kris Haines, The Crippled Critic
FULL REVIEW

"Stephen Karam's kind, warm, beautifully observed and deeply moving new play [is] a celebration of working-class familial imperfection and affection and a game-changing work for this gifted young playwright." - Chicago Tribune
FULL REVIEW

"[A] blisteringly funny, bruisingly sad and altogether wonderful play." - The New York Times
FULL REVIEW

"[A] beautiful, funny-sad and ultimately wrenching portrait of a troubled lower-middle-class Pennsylvania family." - The Hollywood Reporter

[The play succeeds in] finding gorgeous balance between humor and sadness, love and disappointment, hope and dread, solace and hollow desolation." - The Hollywood Reporter
FULL REVIEW

"Drawn in subtle but indelible strokes, Mr. Karam’s play might almost qualify as deep-delving reportage, so clearly does it illuminate the current, tremor-ridden landscape of contemporary America." - The New York Times
FULL REVIEW

Resident Artists