Detroit (play)
Encyclopedia
Detroit is a play by Lisa D'Amour
. A finalist for the Pulitzer
and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
s, the production will be mounted on Broadway
after a premiere at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
's Chicago
venue.
n city," press notes state, "Ben and Mary fire up the grill to welcome the new neighbors who’ve moved into the long-empty house next door. The fledgling friendship soon veers out of control — with unexpected consequences. Shining a light on the middle class American Dream
, Detroit looks at what happens when we open ourselves up to something new."
presented the piece at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago
, Illinois
, from September 10, 2010, to November 7, 2010. It was directed by Austin Pendleton
and choreographed by Tommy Rapley. The Chicago production featured Kevin Anderson as Kenny, Laurie Metcalf
as Mary, Kate Arrington as Sharon, Ian Barford
as Ben and Robert Breuler
as Frank. Lighting was by Kevin Rigdon
, sets by Kevin Depinet, costumes by Rachel Healy, and sound by Josh Schmidt.
in Fall 2011. Casting, dates, and venue have yet to be announced.
was announced. Detroit was a finalist along with the play A Free Man of Color
, with the winner being Clybourne Park
. The piece was also a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
.
wrote of the show:
"The dream here is the 1960s first-ring suburb," said Michael Brosilow, "where neighbors socialize and kids play outside. But in 2010, “does anyone talk to their neighbors anymore?” Sharon asks, before revealing that she and Kenny are recovering substance abusers. That revelation puts the first chinks in the veneer of Mary and Ben’s safe-and-happy home life; we come to see how close they are to the precipice."
The Windy City Times
s Mary Shen Barnidge observed, "Despite the serious questions it raises, D'Amour's premise has all the makings of a situation comedy. There's even a drunk scene—that standby of 1950s farce—along with extended recitations of heavily-symbolic dreams and the bizarre street names characteristic of open-box-add-water subdivisions to escalate the atmosphere of dislocation."
However, the Chicago Stage Style reviewer gave negative reactions: "[T]aking the worst cue from the hysterical dialogue, director Pendleton has instructed his four neighbors to scream hysterically and fuck the motivation. They dance like drunken dervishes. They run around like kids on steroids. They describe their wacky dreams as if they were self-fulfilling prophecies. They howl out their losses to the stars and rage that somehow that’s not enough to fix them. If an audience could make citizen arrests and fill out commitment papers, this entire cast could get the institutional help they deserve."
Lisa D'Amour
Lisa D'Amour is an Obie Award winning playwright, performer, and former Carnival Queen from New Orleans who resides in New York. Ms. D'Amour is an alumnus of New Dramatists....
. A finalist for the Pulitzer
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
and Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is for English-language women playwrights. Named for Susan Smith, alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer.-Winners:* 1978-79 Mary O'Malley* 1979-80 Barbara Schneider...
s, the production will be mounted on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
after a premiere at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
's Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
venue.
Synopsis
"In a 'first ring' suburb outside a mid-sized AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n city," press notes state, "Ben and Mary fire up the grill to welcome the new neighbors who’ve moved into the long-empty house next door. The fledgling friendship soon veers out of control — with unexpected consequences. Shining a light on the middle class American Dream
American Dream
The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each...
, Detroit looks at what happens when we open ourselves up to something new."
Chicago (2010)
The Steppenwolf Theatre CompanySteppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
presented the piece at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, from September 10, 2010, to November 7, 2010. It was directed by Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...
and choreographed by Tommy Rapley. The Chicago production featured Kevin Anderson as Kenny, Laurie Metcalf
Laurie Metcalf
Lauren Elizabeth "Laurie" Metcalf is an American actress. She is widely known for her performance as Jackie Harris on the ABC sitcom Roseanne, Mary Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, the voice of Mrs. Davis in the Toy Story film series and as Debbie Salt in Scream 2...
as Mary, Kate Arrington as Sharon, Ian Barford
Ian Barford
Ian Barford is an American stage and television actor, born in Bloomington, Indiana.- Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre :*Endgame .... Hamm*Up *August: Osage County ......
as Ben and Robert Breuler
Robert Breuler
Robert Breuler is an American stage actor, primarily known as a longtime ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, in Chicago, Illinois, where he won a Joseph Jefferson Award for his role as a Russian negotiator in A Walk in the Woods....
as Frank. Lighting was by Kevin Rigdon
Kevin Rigdon
Kevin Rigdon is a scenic designer, lighting designer. He teaches at the University of Houston, and is the Associate Director/Design for Houston ’s Alley Theatre.-Life:...
, sets by Kevin Depinet, costumes by Rachel Healy, and sound by Josh Schmidt.
Broadway (2011-)
Detroit is now expected to transfer to BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in Fall 2011. Casting, dates, and venue have yet to be announced.
Awards and nominations
On April 18, 2011, the winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for DramaPulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
was announced. Detroit was a finalist along with the play A Free Man of Color
A Free Man of Color
A Free Man of Color is a play by John Guare. It is set in New Orleans in 1801 before the Louisiana Purchase , and follows the story of Jacques Cornet, a "a new world Don Juan" and the wealthiest colored man in New Orleans...
, with the winner being Clybourne Park
Clybourne Park
Clybourne Park is a 2010 play by Bruce Norris written in response to Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun portraying fictional events set before and after the play and loosely based on real life events. The premiere took place in February 2010 at Playwrights Horizons in New York. The play...
. The piece was also a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is for English-language women playwrights. Named for Susan Smith, alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer.-Winners:* 1978-79 Mary O'Malley* 1979-80 Barbara Schneider...
.
Response
Chris Jones in the Chicago TribuneChicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
wrote of the show:
- "Sure, D’Amour ultimately does not delve as deep as one might wish into the implications of the situation she so richly and vividly realizes. And Austin Pendleton’s quirky and amusing production doesn’t always keep its balance ... But D’Amour has penned a very provocative snapshot of the perilous moment ... that sense of dislocation is exquisitely embodied in the work of Laurie Metcalf, an actress who long has understood the precarious dreams of the lower-middle class. Her blistering performance here has the incision of a laser, creating a character who knows that everything is going away and tries to figure out what that might mean."
"The dream here is the 1960s first-ring suburb," said Michael Brosilow, "where neighbors socialize and kids play outside. But in 2010, “does anyone talk to their neighbors anymore?” Sharon asks, before revealing that she and Kenny are recovering substance abusers. That revelation puts the first chinks in the veneer of Mary and Ben’s safe-and-happy home life; we come to see how close they are to the precipice."
The Windy City Times
Windy City Times
Windy City Times is Chicago's oldest LGBT newspaper, and the only Chicago gay publication with an independent circulation audit current as of 2008....
s Mary Shen Barnidge observed, "Despite the serious questions it raises, D'Amour's premise has all the makings of a situation comedy. There's even a drunk scene—that standby of 1950s farce—along with extended recitations of heavily-symbolic dreams and the bizarre street names characteristic of open-box-add-water subdivisions to escalate the atmosphere of dislocation."
However, the Chicago Stage Style reviewer gave negative reactions: "[T]aking the worst cue from the hysterical dialogue, director Pendleton has instructed his four neighbors to scream hysterically and fuck the motivation. They dance like drunken dervishes. They run around like kids on steroids. They describe their wacky dreams as if they were self-fulfilling prophecies. They howl out their losses to the stars and rage that somehow that’s not enough to fix them. If an audience could make citizen arrests and fill out commitment papers, this entire cast could get the institutional help they deserve."