Cast Announced For THE HUMANS At Wilbury Theatre Group

Wilbury Theatre Group presents the Rhode Island premiere of Tony-Award winner for Best Play (2016) The Humans by Stephen Karam, directed by Josh Short. Running November 17 - December 11, the production features Jim O'Brien, Jeanine Kane, Rachel Dulude, Jessie March, Dave Rabinow, & Carol Varden.

The New York Times calls The Humans, "piercingly funny... [a] bruisingly sad comedy-drama about an American family teetering on the edge of the abyss." Tickets for all performances are $5-$55 through the Wilbury Theatre Group's innovative Name-Your-Price model, and are available at thewilburygroup.org/ humans.

"Few plays ride the line between comedy and drama as perfectly as The Humans," said Wilbury Artistic Director Josh Short. "Stephen Karam captures the love and struggle of an American family celebrating a holiday together in manner that is funny, poignant, and moving, while also capturing the anxieties and fears that so many of us carry with us as well. The group of artists that have come together for this production is creating something so touching, and sometimes terrifying, and we can't wait to bring it to our audiences for the shared experience that only theatre can provide."

Irish-American Erik Blake has brought his wife and his mother for Thanksgiving at the new home of his daughter and her boyfriend. His mother (affectionately referred to as "Momo") is suffering from Alzheimer's, and his other daughter Aimee has recently been the victim of a nasty breakup. The parents are disappointed that their daughters have left home to struggle in New York City, and worried that they are abandoning their values. The Humans tells the story of the quintessential family reunion: a group of people who love each other but still wrestle with basic human fears: old age, abandonment, poverty, and death.

The Humans is hailed by critics on Broadway and around the country. The Los Angeles Times said of the playwright Stephen Karam; "[Karam] captures contemporary American domestic life in such wincingly accurate detail that something at once eternal and urgently of the moment is achieved." The Chicago Tribune said of its world premiere in 2014; "Stephen Karam's kind, warm, beautifully observed and deeply moving new play...is a work filled with uncommon compassion for the kinds of people whom the theater often ignores." The Humans was adapted into a film in 2021 starring Richard Jenkins, Amy Schumer, Jayne Houdyshell, Steven Yeun and Beanie Feldstein.

This production is made possible through a generous donation from the Florence Family Fund.

The Humans

By Stephen Karam
Directed by Josh Short

Jim O'Brien*

Jeanine Kane*

Rachel Dulude*

Jessie March

Carol Varden

Dave Rabinow

Light + Sound Design by Andy Russ
Intimacy Direction by Susie Schutt
Set Design by Monica Shinn
Stage Management by Ally Marchetti*

Assistant Direction by Jeff Ginsberg

Front of House Management by Christine Treglia

Volunteer Management by Renee Bessette

Production Photos by Erin X. Smithers

Stephen Karam is the Tony Award-winning author of The Humans, Sons of the Prophet and Speech & Debate. For his work he's received two Drama Critics Circle Awards, an OBIE Award and is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Stephen recently directed his first feature film, a rethought version of The Humans for A24 films, released in 2021. He wrote a film adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull starring Annette Bening, which was released by Sony Picture Classics. His adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard premiered on Broadway as part of Roundabout's 2016 season. Recent honors include the inaugural Horton Foote Playwriting Award, the inaugural Sam Norkin Drama Desk Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, Drama League Award, and Hull-Warriner Award.

Stephen teaches graduate playwriting at The New School. He is a graduate of Brown University and grew up in Scranton, PA.