The Origin of the Species: Williamsburg resident Sarah Steele in ‘The Humans’
When the audience enters the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre to attend a performance of Stephen Karam’s gripping and scathingly funny play “The Humans,” they are shown to their seats by ushers who deliver a stern warning: “The play is 95 minutes and will be performed without an intermission. Anyone who leaves their seat during the play will not be readmitted.” Considering how compelling the play is, it is hard to imagine, barring a medical or family emergency, how any audience member could possibly abandon his or her seat. In fact, even after the superb cast’s final curtain call, much of the audience lingers to ponder and marvel at what we have all just seen. Which was, quite simply, the finest new American play, thus far, of this decade.
The original production of the play, presented off Broadway by the Roundabout Theatre Company, opened in October of 2015. The reviews were ecstatic — The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Time Out New York and National Public Radio all declared “The Humans” the Best Play of the Year — and the play went on to win Tonys for Best Play (Karam), Best Featured Actor (Reed Birney), Best Featured Actress (Jayne Houdyshell) and Best Scenic Design (David Zinn.) In addition, Karam was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. The play transferred to Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theater in January of this year and then, in an unusual move, relocated to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater on Aug. 9 (the move became necessary when Second Stage Theater became the new owner of the Helen Hayes and began a 15-month renovation of the building.)
Among the play’s many virtues is the splendid chemistry of the cast members, all of whom have been together since the play’s off-Broadway opening. And for the youngest cast member, Sarah Steele, this is her second time around with Stephen Karam: she was one of the principals in the playwright’s dark 2007 comedy with music “Speech & Debate,” which was the debut production at the Roundabout Underground, and for which Steele received rapturous reviews. One example: Caryn James, in The New York Times, wrote, “The star of this production…is Sarah Steele…the funniest, wailing-est singer this side of ‘American Idol’ auditions. Her own idol is Mary Warren, the accused witch from ‘The Crucible,’ which [her character] has rewritten as a musical with defiant lines like, ‘Try to hang me, see how strong my neck is.’”