The Humans (Revised TCG Edition). Stephen Karam

is too much a humanist to reduce the Blakes to the sum of their victimization. As strapped as the parents are—Erik cuts his own hair to save money—Deirdre volunteers to help Bhutanese refugees whose poverty touches her conscience. And the most crushing blow in the Blakes’ lives, and thus in the play, comes from a personal failing (not to be revealed here). But with his great heart and expansive social vision, Karam understands, and makes an audience understand, that while anyone can commit such a mistake, people from the nation’s many Scrantons don’t have the security to survive it whole. And, forget about the zombies, a life without any margin for error is its own kind of waking, walking death.

      Samuel G. Freedman is a columnist for the New York Times, a journalism professor at Columbia University, and the author of eight books.

       PRODUCTION HISTORY

      The Humans was commissioned by the Roundabout Theatre Company and received its world premiere on November 18, 2014, at the American Theater Company (PJ Paparelli, Artistic Director) in Chicago. It was directed by PJ Paparelli; the set design was by David Ferguson, the costume design was by Brittany Dee Bodley, the lighting design was by Brian Hoehne, the sound design was by Patrick Bley; the production stage manager was Amanda J. Davis, the production manager was Markie Gray and the assistant stage manager was Abigail Medrano. The cast was:

ERIK BLAKE	Keith Kupferer
DEIRDRE BLAKE	Hanna Dworkin
AIMEE BLAKE	Sadieh Rifai
BRIGID BLAKE	Kelly O’Sullivan
“MOMO” BLAKE	Jean Moran
RICHARD SAAD	Lance Baker

      The Humans received its New York premiere at the Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director; Sydney Beers, General Manager) on October 26, 2015. It was directed by Joe Mantello; the set design was by David Zinn, the costume design was by Sarah Laux, the lighting design was by Justin Townsend, the sound design was by Fitz Patton; the artistic consultant was Robyn Goodman, the literary manager was Jill Rafson, the production stage manager was William Joseph Barnes and the associate stage manager was Devin Day. The cast was:

ERIK BLAKE	Reed Birney
DEIRDRE BLAKE	Jayne Houdyshell
AIMEE BLAKE	Cassie Beck
BRIGID BLAKE	Sarah Steele
“MOMO” BLAKE	Lauren Klein
RICHARD SAAD	Arian Moayed

      The Humans opened on Broadway at The Helen Hayes Theatre on February 18, 2016. The producers were Scott Rudin, Barry Diller, Roundabout Theatre Company, Fox Theatricals, James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Roy Furman, Daryl Roth, Jon B. Platt, Eli Bush, Broadway Across America, Jack Lane, Barbara Whitman, Jay Alix and Una Jackman, Scott M. Delman, Sonia Friedman, Amanda Lipitz, Peter May, Stephanie P. McClelland, Lauren Stein, The Shubert Organization; Joey Parnes, Sue Wagner, John Johnson, executive producers. The artistic team and cast remained the same as the Roundabout production.

       DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      ERIK BLAKE, sixty

      DEIRDRE BLAKE, Erik’s wife, sixty-one

      AIMEE BLAKE, their daughter, thirty-four

      BRIGID BLAKE, their daughter, twenty-six

      “MOMO” BLAKE, Erik’s mother, seventy-nine

      RICHARD SAAD, Brigid’s boyfriend, thirty-eight

       NOTES

      1. A slash ( / ) means the character with the next line of dialogue begins his or her speech.

      2. Dialogue in brackets [ ] is expressed nonverbally.

      3. The Humans takes place in one real-time scene—on a two-level, four-room set—with no blackouts. Life continues in all spaces at all times. While this is difficult to render on the page, the noting of “UPSTAIRS” v. “DOWNSTAIRS” is a reminder of the exposed “dollhouse” view the audience has at all times. Throughout the journey, the audience’s focus may wander into whichever room it chooses.

      There are six basic fears, with some combination of which every human suffers at one time or another . . .

      The fear of poverty

      The fear of criticism

      The fear of ill health

      The fear of loss of love of someone

      The fear of old age

      The fear of death

       —NAPOLEON HILL, THINK AND GROW RICH

      The subject of the “uncanny” . . . belongs to all that is terrible—to all that arouses dread and creeping horror . . . The German word [for “uncanny”], unheimlich, is obviously the opposite of heimlich . . . meaning “familiar,” “native,” “belonging to the home”; and we are tempted to conclude that what is “uncanny” is frightening precisely because it is not known and familiar . . . [But] among its different shades of meaning the word heimlich exhibits one which is identical with its opposite, unheimlich . . . on the one hand, it means that which is familiar and congenial, and on the other, that which is concealed and kept out of sight.

       —SIGMUND FREUD, THE UNCANNY

      The mask. Look at the mask!

      Sand, crocodile, and fear above New York.

       —FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA, DANCE OF DEATH