The Ann Arbor Civic Theater was planning to stage Stephen Karam’s Tony Award-winning Thanksgiving play The Humans just before the holiday. But first, there was a Halloween play of an off-beat Dracula comedy that had to be produced.

The Humans' director Cassie Mann said there wasn’t enough time to squeeze in the play for Thanksgiving. So instead of opening the holiday season, The Humans is winding up the holiday season with a play that combines drama, humor, and a chance to reflect on the meaning of our holiday gatherings.

“I saw it on Broadway in 2016 in its first original run, and I just loved it,” Mann said. “I kept thinking about it, and Broadway prices what they were, I wasn’t about to go back and see it again, but I just kept thinking about it, and I thought I would love to do this at some time.”

Karam’s play deftly captures the tensions of an ordinary family on that very important holiday, a mixture of tension, humor, and love.

Erik and Deirdre Blake have traveled from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to celebrate Thanksgiving Day at the small Chinatown apartment of their youngest daughter, Brigid, and her boyfriend, Richard. Their older daughter, facing medical problems, will also be there for the occasion.

“I like intimate theater, and I like character-driven stories,” said Mann. “This is really just a story of a family getting together for Thanksgiving, and it’s done in real time with no intermission. The dialogue is so natural, and the playwright builds in places where people overlap a lot. It was initially hard for the actors to get that rhythm, but once they do, it seems so very real.”

Karam’s play covers some heavy subjects and an airing of family resentments, but he balances the drama with humor, wisecracks, and snappy comebacks. The play also has a spooky element—there are bumps in the night and odd noises.

Erik and Deirdre are caught in the middle. They are concerned about their two daughters, but they are also caring for Erik’s mother, affectionately called MoMo. Mann said that actress Maureen Hamilton as MoMo is confined to a wheelchair and struggles to communicate.

Brigid, the host for Thanksgiving, wants to explain to everyone what’s going on, but Dad is concerned.

“It’s just kind of a presence, which to me is just basically that this is a post 9/11 play, and in the storyline, the people are very affected by that, and I fell back to 9/11, and it felt like everybody didn’t feel safe anymore,” Mann said. “Ever since then, there has been this thing hanging over. I feel that’s what the playwright was trying to get at.”

The Blake family has been struggling with economic and security issues. At one point in the play, Erik says, “It should cost less just to be alive.”

“They are all struggling financially. The American dream was you work, you get your house, you get your kids in college, they are all happy, but our 21st-century reality is very different,” Mann said. “I have children the same age as the characters in the play, and I keep thinking about it, and I feel guilty about it. It seems so much harder now than it was for us.”

Laura Chodoroff plays Brigid, who is just settling down in her spooky apartment with her boyfriend. The Thanksgiving feast will be served on folding tables and chairs, and seating is limited.

“I guess I see a lot of myself in her,” Chodoroff said. “I would describe her as the black sheep. She clashed with her mom, and she finally has a place of her own, and her grown-up boyfriend, and is feeling more adult. What happens when you get with your family, all of those patterns with the parents and fighting with your family transports her right back where she used to be, butting  heads with Deirdre and being the one who makes snarky comments and gets told off by her older and more mature sister.”

Brigid is one of the many college graduates who have been struggling to find a job that uses the skills she learned in college.

“Having to work a couple jobs to support herself while pursuing her dreams, while her sister has a full-time job [she’s a lawyer with chronic health problems]. I think Brigid needs to prove herself,” Chordroff said.

Kathleen Beardmore plays Deirdre.

“I think she’s a fairly average mom. She loves her family but can be very irritated with family members,” Beardmore said. “She’s dedicated to her family, her church, her community, but struggles with where to put her energy, and that’s stressful.”

There's a generational gap that separates mom from her daughters.

“You want them to have better lives than we did, but then when they get that, you might be a little jealous," Beardmore said. "You balance the lighthearted moments with the daughters and family, and you want to be near them but a little critical with what they’re doing."

Mann said The Humans is both thought-provoking and funny.

“Although the play deals with some serious topics, it is often laugh-out-loud funny, and the overlapping dialogue is snappy and utterly believable,” Mann said. “Just about anyone who has sat down with their extended family for a holiday meal will find something to relate to.”

Other cast members are Larry Rusinsky as Erik, Aliahna as Aimee, and Jamie Jee as Richard.

Hugh Gallagher has written theater and film reviews over a 40-year newspaper career and was most recently the managing editor of the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers in suburban Detroit.   

The Ann Arbor Civic Theatre will present Stephen Karam’s "The Humans," Fridays and Saturdays, at 7:30 pm on January 9-10 and 16-17, and at 2 pm on Sundays, January 11 and 18, at the A2CT Studio Theater, 322 West Ann Street, Ann Arbor. For tickets and additional information, go to a2ct.org or call 734-971-2228.